Angels Among Us
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Dean wasn't the only soul on Alistair's racks... there was an angel too. A very powerful one who had been used by demons for centuries for a figure all hunters knew and avoided on principle. The Angel who was the power behind the Ghost Rider, a figure steeped in pain from long ago! Now Dean has an extra passenger in his head and has to deal with an angel who can no longer fly!
1. Chapter 1

Dean was heartbroken as he stared at the rapidly cooling corpse of his brother. His baby brother, who he had sacrificed so much for just to make sure Sam was safe from their father.

Dean loved John, he tried to be a good son, but a good father he was not after their mother was killed by that damn yellow-eyes.

And now he was dead. Dead by another psychic who had gotten the drop on him.

Bobby tried to convince him not to make a deal, but Dean was beyond caring about his soul. He wanted Sam back and he would do anything to make it so.

A few hours later Dean was heading towards the first crossroads he knew of. He stopped for gas only once, Sam's body covered in the back so that the cops wouldn't ask about the corpse.

It was while he was getting gas that he saw a vintage chopper pull up. The guy looked normal enough, but it was a full moon tonight and Dean knew something was off about the man.

The guy passed by the car and paused for a moment before he went to his motorcycle.

Dean knew that he had seen Sam, or at least the outline when he noticed the guy following him. He pulled over and reached for his gun. If this guy was a cop he wouldn't hesitate to shoot him. He didn't have time to be arrested when he could use it to bring back Sam, and he was already a wanted felon.

Damn shape shifting bastards.

The guy came up to the window and Dean knew his instincts were right when the man opened up with "You're planning to make a deal aren't you?"

"And what if I am?"

"Word of advice, don't trust a demon. They might bring whoever is under that tarp back, but they could just as easily kill him another way just to mess with you."

"Speaking from experience?" asked Dean.

The man didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes.

Dean got a good look at his face and realized that the guy looked way too familiar. It took him a moment to realize who he was really talking to.

"Aren't you Johnny Blaze?" he asked.

Johnny, for that was who Dean had run into, looked surprised he had been recognized.

Dean got out of the car and leaned on his baby.

"So...you made a demon deal. What was it for?"

"My dad had cancer. I wanted him to live so I agreed to ride for Mephistopheles. Bastard killed him with a heart attack the next day and I got screwed over working for hell. I got one over on him though. I might have sold my soul to hell but they can't make me work for them," said Johnny.

"Wait a damn minute. _You're_ the Ghost Rider? Hell's personal bounty hunter?!" said Dean in shock. He had heard of the Rider, hell any hunter who went after demons had. There was a rumor that hell had gotten a new one after the last one went awol and stole a contract, but no one had confirmed it.

Most hunters avoided the Rider because while he did go after the real scumbags there were very few hunters who didn't have a few skeletons in their closet. And the last thing any hunter wanted was to be on the wrong end of his Penitence Stare.

"You've heard of me?"

"Dude, every hunter who chases demons knows about the Rider. We just avoid him as a professional courtesy because we know about his Stare and we don't want to end up in hell," said Dean flatly.

"So who's in the back?"

"My brother. I've spent my entire life trying to keep him alive and some demon kills him for some stupid tournament. No way in hell am I letting that slide. Not if I can bring him back," said Dean vehemently.

Johnny gave Dean a searching gaze. He seemed to find something in Dean that he was looking for, because he wished Dean good luck. The two shook hands and something passed from Johnny into Dean.

While the two never met again for several years, that one hand shake would have far reaching consequences. One that would shake both heaven _and_ hell.

_One year and one month later..._

Dean screamed in agony as his soul was ripped to shreds. He never regretted selling his soul to bring Sam back, though he would forever hate hell hounds after what that bitch Lilith had done to him.

They had thrown him straight onto Alistair's racks, and for as long as he was in hell all he could feel was the pain. All he could hear were the screams of those who were just as damned as him. Even when they healed him so he could feel the pain anew, he never allowed them to break him.

Because there was something Dean could see that the demons couldn't.

Something that he would be damned all over again if he even breathed a word of what he could see in the pit nearby.

There was an angel, one that hadn't fallen, in hell.

Now Dean had never believed in god. How could he after all the horrible things that happened in the world or seeing his mother die and his father fall apart until there was nothing of the man who had raised him until that horrible night left? Sammy was the one who openly believed in angels and heaven, not Dean.

But in the pit nearby Dean could clearly see an angel on the racks, their wings torn to shreds and their mind almost entirely broken from the torture. It was so pure and beautiful that Dean took some comfort that not everything in the pit was so horrible. If he had one wish, he wished he could help that angel escape.

Maybe if he helped the angel escape, it would bring him to heaven's attention and they would get him out of here. But he couldn't even move without feeling the pain of countless tortures, so that was a vain wish.

For every day that he was in the pit, Dean stared at that angel, letting the light it gave off give him even a small measure of hope in the world.

Finally his mind couldn't take it anymore. He broke and gave into Alistair's suggestions that he start dishing the pain out to others.

Dean could see the sorrow in the angel's eyes, but there was an understanding as well. It knew why he had broken and didn't condemn him for it. Dean took no pleasure in what he did, no matter how much Alistair tried to change it. He was only human, and the human spirit could only take so much before something snapped.

In what seemed like forty years Dean heard a commotion from one of the upper levels. Demons ran past screaming about the angels raiding the Pit, seeking the Winchester in Alistair's racks.

They were so distracted that they didn't realize Dean wasn't torturing his allotted soul. He snuck over to the angel.

"Come with me. If they really are here for me then you shouldn't have to suffer this place too," said Dean.

"_I can't. I've been down here for so long and my mind is too far gone to escape,"_ said the angel. It's light was so dim that if Dean hadn't been staring at it for who knows how long he wouldn't have known it was even alive.

"Is there anyway you could leave? Without them knowing?" he asked.

"_I would have to take a vessel, and even then my Grace wouldn't be as powerful as it once was. The demons used my corrupted spirit to torment others... Father might not let me return,"_ wept the angel.

"He'd be an asshole if he didn't. You've been down here for who knows how long and you're still the brightest thing here."

The sounds of battle were getting closer. Dean could hear a heavenly voice seeking him, and there was no way he was leaving this angel behind to suffer any longer than he had to.

So he asked "What's a vessel?"

"_A human who agrees to house an angel is called a vessel. It has to be consensual or the angel might fall. But all of mine have been forced, not willing,"_ said the angel.

It was why her grace was so weak...Mephistopheles had forced her to take vessels against their will and corrupted her powers. Her commander would be so ashamed of her now.

"What if I gave my consent? Could you hitch a ride out of hell with me?"

She looked at him.

"_But the others will know. They might leave you behind,"_ she whispered. A willing vessel would allow her to heal, and possibly re-earn her entry into heaven.

"Not a chance. I hear them calling out for me now. I think they're here to bring me back up, and I swore to myself if I ever had the chance I would help you escape too. You were the only thing that helped me stay sane down here," said Dean honestly.

She reached a broken hand towards him. Dean took it, and he felt something fill inside of him, healing wounds he didn't even know were there. There was a sigh of relief in the back of his mind and he knew that the angel was safely hidden from the others. Only time would tell if the ones coming would notice. He went back to his cell and waited for a few moments before he came face-to-face with a blue eyed angel that took his breath away.

Dean passed out from the sheer relief he was getting out of the pit and saving someone else in the process. It was clear to him that this angel didn't know about the extra passenger at all.

He woke up in a pine wood box in a state of panic. It took him fifteen terrible minutes to dig himself out, and he was glad that whoever had buried him hadn't made it too deep. He took his first real breath of clean air and openly wept with relief.

Inside, he knew that his rescue of the angel hadn't been a dream, because he could hear her crying in joy at the sun in his head.

He took a look at the damage and stared. It was like a bomb had gone off.

He walked towards the first gas station he could find and immediately drained an entire water bottle dry in mere minutes. He looked at the damage to his body in the mirror and quietly asked _'So do you have a name?'_

The angel in his head tentatively replied _"My name used to be Astarael."_

_'Bit hard to pronounce. Can I call you Arael instead?'_

"_After you risked your own salvation to save me, you can call me whatever the hell you want."_

Dean chuckled. He could get used to her, if that was what her personality was like.

He was looking in the cash register for something to put in the payphone when this awful loud whine started. Something big flew past the station and Dean immediately went for the salt. The whine grew louder in pitch and volume and the windows literally started to rattle in their panes.

His hands went to his ears from shock and pain before Arael did something.

Suddenly the whine turned into words, though not like any he had ever heard spoken. Arael did her best to translate it into English.

When the whine stopped, Dean looked around for any demons. That was beyond strange, and his weird-shit-o-meter was pretty far out to begin with.

"_That was Castiel. It seems he was the one to bring you..."_

_'Us. Until you're able to go back home consider it an "Us"' _replied Dean firmly.

"_Castiel was the one to find you first and drag _us_ out of the pit."_

_'Who is Castiel?'_

"_An angel that serves directly under Micheal...the annoying bastard,"_ said Arael viciously.

_'Micheal as in the arch angel? What have you got against him?'_

"_It was _his_ idea to have one of the lesser angels replace Gabriel who left because he couldn't stand seeing his brothers fight. And that was after Father left during the Dark Ages. And like the naïve idiot I was, I offered to take my commander's place in hopes that he would prefer one of his garrison to do it rather than one of the sycophants that made up Micheal's ranks. They neglected to warn me that the area I was to be sent in had an arch duke of hell who knew about the idea and planned to capture the angel who came down,"_ said Arael bitterly.

_'Right...if this Castiel has a message from Micheal or any of the other angels I'll tell him that they can go fuck themselves.'_

Arael gave a bitter laugh, but it was clear she appreciated the thought.

Dean immediately headed for Bobby's. He had to find Sam, and that was the best place to start looking.

Dean was the only one aware of what had brought him out of the pit, but he wanted to make sure it really was an angel. It wasn't that he doubted Arael (and he didn't tell either Sam or Bobby about his new passenger), but it would be nice to double check.

Arael paid half attention to Pamela's attempts to find Castiel, but when she realized that the woman was getting far too close to seeing his true form she acted accordingly and broke the contact before Pamela's eyes burned out.

The psychic blinked, eyes bleeding slightly from the near miss and Looked at Dean.

"Why did you break the contact?" she asked.

"Take a look in the mirror and then ask me that," said Dean flatly.

Pamela had to blink repeatedly to see anything, but what she did shocked her to the core.

"What in god's name could make a psychic's eyes bleed from seeing their true nature?" asked Bobby.

"Icarus," said Dean. Or more like Arael was supplying him this particular tidbit.

"Icarus?" asked Bobby.

"Isn't Icarus the name of the one who flew too close to the sun on wax wings and died in the ocean?" asked Sam. Ever the nerd.

"Pamela got too close to something she couldn't handle, and I could feel it so I broke it before she went completely blind," said Dean.

"You could feel her being too close?" asked Sam.

"Weird right?" said Dean.

He wasn't going to mention Arael. They didn't need to know.

"In any case we need to get her to a hospital," said Bobby.

Pamela would need to wear glasses for the rest of her life, but at least she could still see.

Dean was half asleep when he heard that whine again. Arael was less than pleased that Castiel felt shouting was a good way to get Dean to understand Enochian from an angel's true voice.

Really, if Dean had been in pain the first time then why was he speaking loud enough to qualify as a shout this time? Very few humans could even handle an angel's true voice without going mad, and without her presence Dean wasn't one of them!

Bobby managed to get them out of there before the glass speared Dean.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know. But it happened back at the station too," said Dean wincing.

The two quickly got their things together to summon this Castiel character. Boy was that angel in for a real shock.


	2. Chapter 2

Castiel knew that Dean was trying to summon him, but since his initial attempts to speak to the man had failed he had no other choice but to take a vessel and find him.

It took him several hours before he found a suitable one, but once he did it was a simple matter of returning to the area.

He knocked out Robert Singer without harming him, and was mildly surprised that Dean didn't try to kill him with the knife left behind by the one called Ruby.

Instead he looked mildly pissed at him for some reason.

"So...you're Castiel."

"I am an angel of the lord," said Castiel tonelessly.

"I know. What I want to know is why the hell you thought I would understand Enochian when I can barely muddle through Latin?" asked Dean.

"What?"

"Your little shouting match? I could hear the words but I don't know a _word_ of Enochian and I sure as hell didn't appreciate having all that damn glass hitting me," said Dean irritated.

"You could hear me?" said Castiel in honest surprise. He had thought from the way Dean had been in pain that he couldn't hear a word at all.

"Like I said, I don't speak Enochian, and that volume was way too high for me to even understand anything," said Dean.

"I shall try to keep it down next time."

"Which brings my next complaint... Why the hell did you leave an angel down in the pit for god knows how long?!"

"Lucifer's cage was nowhere near the area I found you in," said Castiel.

"I'm not talking about Lucifer. I thought he was a demon anyway. I'm talking about the angel that was on the racks across from mine. Name of Astarael?" said Dean.

"Astarael was given an assignment on Earth and never returned. We felt her Grace snuffed out," said Castiel. He had known of her...she was particularly loyal to Gabriel and was a fine commander.

She had gone missing shortly after her reassignment and he had been told she was killed on Earth by a demon.

"Bullshit. I saw her clear as day in the area next to mine while I was on the rack," snarled Dean.

Castiel blinked.

"She was in the pit?"

"She was broken and nearly insane, but she was there. I saw her before you dragged my ass out. She was the brightest thing there," said Dean.

Castiel was in shock. If that was true then had left a fellow angel in the pit and didn't know it. Surely they could have retrieved her as well?

"If you see Micheal tell him he's an asshole for leaving her down there when he was the one who sent her on that suicide mission without helping her when she called for him," said Dean angrily.

Castiel didn't know what to say, but he would pass that message anyway. He did wonder...just why did the other angels lie about what happened to Astarael?

* * *

Dean took one look at Ruby and snarled.

"Get the fuck away from my brother you bitch!"

Ruby sneered at him before she left.

"Dean! What the hell?"

"It was an angel. A nerdy looking one in a trench coat by the name of Castiel."

"Dean, you said yourself the last time we saw an angel that they didn't exist," said Sam slowly.

"That was before I ran into one in the pit. The brightest thing there and it would make a grown man weep to see it."

"Brightest thing there?"

"There was an angel on the racks in the pit next to mine. Apparently Micheal the arch angel sent her on a suicide mission trying to replace Gabriel who left and then didn't have the balls to help her out when she ran into an arch demon," spat Dean. It was clear how he felt about that fact. He was pissed as hell.

"So what did you do?"

"I helped her escape. I hope she returned to heaven and gave that asshole a piece of her mind for what he did," said Dean. He was only half lying.

* * *

Bobby looked into what had brought Dean out, not willing to believe that angels existed despite the evidence to the contrary. Eventually he admitted that maybe they were real. Nothing else could remove a soul from the Pit. And Sam had tried repeatedly in the months since to make a deal.

If a demon was going to let Dean out, they would have done so _months_ ago.

Arael was having fits because she could sense something horrible was happening and didn't know what. So when Bobby found one of his friends dead for no reason by a ghost, well it didn't take long for her to figure out what it was.

"_Are they insane?! Why didn't they to stop the Rising?!"_

_'Rising?'_

"_The Rising of the Witnesses is a major mile marker for freeing Lucifer! They only need to break sixth-six seals to allow him to leave his cage, and bringing the Witnesses back is one of the bigger ones! Why didn't those idiots stop this?!"_

_'What are the others?'_

"_The rebirth of Samhain, the death of a reaper, the death of several angels... and of course the last seal which is the death of the First Demon at the Hands of the Righteous Man."_

_'We seriously need to talk once this shit calms down,'_ deadpanned Dean.

Arael hummed in agreement.

* * *

"Dean we need to talk," said Sam. After the incident with the Witnesses, Sam had been watching his brother...and he was more than a bit worried that the one beside him wasn't his brother at all.

"So talk," said Dean.

"Christo."

"For the love of... It's me Sammy! For god's sake Bobby verified that I wasn't any demon after I first came to the house!" said Dean irritated.

"Then why do I keep seeing you look like you're not really there?" asked Sam seriously.

Dean's eyes glazed a bit, a look Sam was beginning to become far too familiar with of late.

"You want to know the truth?"

"Yes! I think I deserve some answers Dean! Unless you want me trying to exorcise you for hours or drag you off to Bobby's!" said Sam.

"I wasn't the only one who left hell."

"You told me about the angel Dean."

"Thing is, she couldn't exactly _leave_ the normal way. And Castiel sure as hell didn't know about her being there."

"So how did she... wait, you don't mean..."

Leave it to the smarter brother to get it.

Dean's eyes shifted from their normal green to a bright blue.

"_Hello Sam. Nice to finally meet you properly."_

"No way. You have an angel in you?!"

"_The proper term is vessel. And I'm not really in him per say, more like hitching a ride for now."_

Arael had long since hidden the Winchester brothers from Heaven's radar, or at least made the Impala angel-proof so they couldn't hear a word of this.

"How long have you two been..."

"_Sharing a body? Since that fool Castiel dragged us out. He didn't even realize that he had a hitchhiker inside of Dean's soul."_

"So what exactly does this mean?"

"_I can allow Dean to listen in to an angel's true voice, though it's not as interesting as you might think. Plus we can deal with any demons that come our way. Coincidentally, the next time Ruby comes with information, kill her."_

"What? Why?"

"_Sam, Ruby's lies about remembering her humanity are a load of bullshit. She's not doing this for her, she's under orders from someone else. Humans don't become demons and suddenly remember their humanity without it being a ruse. Besides, didn't it seem odd how she suddenly vanished without warning and left Lilith all the room she needed to possess her when Dean died?" _

Arael had been looking through Dean's memories with his permission. And the minute she saw that moment it had raised all sorts of alarms in her head.

Sam blinked. Clearly he hadn't thought about it.

Suddenly Dean's body shuddered, and Dean returned to in control.

"The angels noticed something was up. She went back to sleep."

"So...you're sharing your body with a girl?" said Sam smirking. About time he could tease Dean about this...he had called _him_ a girl one too many times!

"Sammy, she was the only thing that kept me even remotely sane down there. I swore to myself I would help her escape, so I did."

Sam's face softened.

"I didn't mean..."

"I know. It's just I felt I owed her for keeping me from going completely insane," said Dean.

"Saving people is the family business, isn't it?" said Sam.

Dean chuckled.

* * *

Castiel was...confused.

After hearing about Dean seeing Astarael in the pit, he had gone to his superiors and asked the about what happened to her.

Officially, she had been so heartbroken over Gabriel leaving that she had left without permission to find him and was killed by demons.

However some of the other arch angels told Castiel a different story entirely.

"Astarael? I haven't heard that name since Micheal came up with the foolish idea to replace Gabriel with one of his garrison. Dear Father...her screams still haunt me," said Sealtiel.

"What do you mean, replace Gabriel?" asked Castiel.

"Micheal thought he could keep order by 'replacing' Gabriel with a lower angel. A sort of bandage over the loss of a second arch angel. Astarael, one of Gabriel's garrison and his closest commander, volunteered to be the first one to take his place. She didn't want one of the idiots under Micheal to harm Gabriel's reputation among the mortals. However on her first assignment she was ambushed by an arch demon by the name of Mephistopheles..." Sealtiel shuddered, "I can still remember that horrible day. She screamed for days for Micheal to send help, but he never sent any. Eventually they stopped and her Grace vanished."

Castiel frowned. This didn't sound like the Micheal he knew...then again he wasn't that close to the higher angel at all. He just served him.

"Is it possible she was locked in the pit and left there for Alistair?"

"More than possible. Her Grace may have vanished but it still pops up now and again, usually after a new Rider is chosen," said Sealtiel.

"Then Winchester was right. She was down there when we stormed the place," said Castiel sadly. If he had known she was there, he would have helped her.

"Winchester? Not Dean Winchester?" said Sealtiel.

"The same."

"If anyone could have seen Astarael, it might have been him. It wouldn't be that farfetched that the Righteous Man could see an angel in hell, especially where he was."

"He complained about my volume level when I tried to speak to him, and wanted to know why I spoke Enochian when he could barely muddle through Latin," confided Castiel.

Sealtiel's eyes widened and he suddenly laughed.

"Ha! I can't wait to see the look on that pompous Seraph's face when he learns about this!"

"What?"

"Zachariah. Micheal has him in charge of breaking the Winchesters to become the vessels once Lilith frees Lucifer. I can't wait to see how that arrogant little prick reacts to this," said Sealtiel amused.

"Reacts to what?"

"What I am about to tell you stays between us, understood?"

Castiel nodded. He would keep his silence so long as he got some answers...besides, he trusted Sealtiel more than Micheal after hearing what _really_ happened to another angel.

"The only way Winchester could know you were speaking Enochian or hear you without being driven insane would be if someone were buffering him. Don't you see?"

It took a few moments for Castiel to realize what he was saying.

"You mean he's..."

"Already a willing vessel? I'd bet my sword that he let Astarael hitch a ride on his soul when you dragged him out to save her and she's still there, or at least very close by. Micheal can't take him if he's already possessed by another angel!" said Sealtiel with glee.

On one hand, Castiel was relieved that his fellow angel was out of the pit and away from Alistair's racks. On the other, he felt duty bound to tell his superiors about this.

Then he realized he already had. Sealtiel was an arch angel, which meant he already had report it to a superior angel and he wasn't very inclined to kill Astarael for finding a way out of the pit.

"Can I leave this matter to you?" asked Castiel.

Sealtiel's eyes gleamed.

"I won't speak of this if you won't. Though I do want to see their faces when they find out the truth. As far as you're concerned, you've done your duty as a good little angel and reported it to a higher one. You don't need to speak of it any further, since it's out of your hands now," said Sealtiel firmly.

Castiel nodded in agreement. He could leave the matter of Astarael to him, and not have to think about dealing with her so long as none of the other arch angels found out.

Even Uriel couldn't force him to kill her now, not unless he could get Sealtiel to change his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Arael was irritated. Sure it was nice letting Dean meet his parents before they were his parents, but she hated time travel. Half the time the lower angels couldn't even get the poor bastard in the right timeline, though from the feel of it Castiel had help from an arch angel.

She remembered Sealtiel, though she only trusted Gabriel at this point.

She stayed awake for a short time, letting Dean handle this mess. She only made sure that he returned to _his_ timeline.

It was easy to find it...she just made sure she wasn't still in the pit.

* * *

"_I'm so bored...this is somewhat an odd feeling for me..."_ whined Arael.

Dean took that as a good sign considering how turn up she had been when he had found her. If she could feel boredom, the she wasn't concentrating on how much pain she had been in. If that was the case then he would happily let her borrow his body so long as he didn't feel tired in the morning.

Sam didn't care and let her use his laptop so long as she agreed to use the headphones and didn't keep him awake wanking all damn night like Dean had a few times.

Arael had laughed at Dean's indignant shout and agreed to avoid those sites for now, to Dean's annoyance.

It was surprising easy for the brothers to accept that there was an angel borrowing Dean's head, even if her powers were rather weak at the moment.

She could _do_ something, but at the moment it was safer all around for all of them if she pretended to not be there. The last thing they needed was for the angels to learn that she was inside Dean when she was supposed to be in the pit. If they really needed the help, she could turn Dean into another Rider...and she occasionally tortured Dean with visions of his beloved car after he got the upgrade.

Dean didn't know whether to drool at the idea of such a badass car, or fear for his baby. It was a fifty-fifty split.

* * *

Arael was yawning from watching a bunch of really old monster movies she had found, so it came as a surprise when she recognized one of the bar wenches.

"_What...the...hell?"_

_'What?'_

"_That bar wench looks like Mina from the really old Dracula movie. How weird."_

_'No more late night monster movie marathons for you. We get enough of that hunting thank you!'_

Arael snorted before she went to sleep.

A few days later however she took control from Dean and showed a picture of the really old black and white cinema form of the Wolfman.

To the shock of Dean _and_ Sam the witness confirmed that was what he saw, down to the last detail.

Arael felt rather smug.

"How?"

"She's been watching the old black and whites while we're sleeping. How did you know?"

"_I told you I recognized Mina. Now think boys, what sort of beastie do you know that can take the form of many monsters?"_ asked Arael amused.

Dean openly cursed.

"There's a damn shape shifter on the loose," said Dean. He _hated_ shape shifters, almost as much as he hated demons and hell hounds. It was because of a shifter that he had been put on the FBI's most wanted list!

"One with a love of the classics apparently," said Sam dryly.

"Right. Time to gank a bar wench," said Dean sourly. On the plus side, at least they had a heads up about what it was...even if it was because the angel in his head was an old movie nut.

A few hours later, Arael went right to sleep when Dean picked up the other bar maid. She had no interest in _that_. At least not with a girl.

* * *

Arael was irritated. Dean had been infected with Ghost Sickness, and to insure he didn't suddenly drop dead of heart failure she had taken full control.

Sam wasn't happy, and they had a limited amount of time before Dean was fully infected by this crap. They were waiting to call Bobby because Sam didn't want him to freak out over Arael...or hit them for not telling him to start with.

Arael had to knock Dean out to shut his panicked ramblings from annoying her further. She drew the line when Dean freaked out over a little lap dog.

"_Let's go and find out what the good sheriff knows about this mess,"_ said Areal.

"Do you have to do that echo voice effect?" asked Sam.

"_Can you think of a better way to prove to Bobby I'm not a demon?" _asked Arael.

Besides, she had recently started to watch some of the more popular Sci-Fi shows, starting with _Stargate SG-1_. She thought that voice effect was pretty amusing.

"It's just weird is all," said Sam.

"_At least you don't have to worry about me hitting on everything female in sight,"_ said Arael. Sam snorted in agreement.

A few hours later Sam finally called Bobby in. He had to, because Arael was forced to put her full attention on Dean to keep him alive and not panicked.

Apparently even Ghost Sickness couldn't beat the experience Dean had with hell. He trusted Arael completely, and he knew she wouldn't let him die.

"So let me get this straight... Dean is currently meditating to avoid dying while we kill this ghost? What do you take me for, an idjit?" snapped Bobby.

Dean didn't meditate. He was too active for that.

Sam sighed. He had been wanting to avoid telling Bobby, but Arael settled it for him.

"_For the love of God, tell him already! It's not like he wouldn't have noticed like you did!"_ said Arael. Bobby jumped. That was NOT Dean.

"Bobby wait! Dean's in there, but he brought someone with him from the pit."

"He's possessed?"

"Arael's not a demon. I put him through all the usual tests and even exorcised him in a devil's trap. Dean found an angel in the pit...one who hasn't fallen," said Sam quickly.

"How do I know this 'angel' didn't trick you both?" growled Bobby.

"_Because I'm the source of the Ghost Rider's powers," _snapped Arael.

Sam blinked.

"Seriously?"

"_Mephistopheles' favorite torture. He ripped out my Grace and shoved it into his Riders and forced me to power them. If the current one hadn't found a way to return it I wouldn't have regained my sanity long enough for Dean to see me. Though because I left before he regain his position, he now has Lucifer's Grace,"_ said Arael. And that had amused her to no end. Mephistopheles' son, shoving the Grace of the same angel who created demons to begin with.

She wondered how the bastard would take that news...or even if he knew that she had escaped his prison.

"If you're an angel, where's your wings?" demanded Bobby. If he saw wings he might believe this spirit.

Arael's eyes grew cold.

"_My wings were the first thing they took. I've been in the pit for centuries Robert Singer, and they took great pleasure in ripping out each feather and forcing me to heal while I was forced to power the Riders. There's a reason why Castiel didn't notice I had hitched a ride with Dean when he took him out of the Pit,"_ snapped Arael with an angry hiss.

Bobby raised a hand in surrender. He would put down a devil's trap for Dean to walk through later before he believed this angel, but for now they had no choice but to trust them. Arael was the only thing keeping Dean alive.

A few hours later, Bobby watched as Dean walked through the devil's trap without even pausing. He felt something unclench inside him.

Dean wasn't a demon.

He then slapped both of them on the head.

"OW!" yelped Dean.

"That's for not telling me sooner, ya idjit!"

Sam didn't complain, mostly because they did deserve it for not trusting Bobby.

"So where to next?" asked Dean.

"_The deadline for Samhain to rise is coming up soon."_

"Samhain?" said Dean aloud for their benefit.

"_Samhain is the demon who began the whole Halloween myth. People used to dress up to hide from him. Eventually it became the commercial nonsense you know today. He can only rise once every six hundred years, and unfortunately for you two, that happens to be this year."_

"What's she saying?" asked Sam. Bobby raised an eyebrow...he had thought Dean was sharing his head with a boy angel.

"She said that the deadline for Samhain to rise is this year. If he misses it he'll have to wait another six hundred years. Thing is she had no idea where he'll come up."

"What does he need to rise?" asked Bobby.

"_Three deaths via witchcraft over three days. The third death will become his new body,"_ said Arael.

"Three deaths by a witch over three days. Last death is the new body," said Dean.

"Can Arael tell where the witch is?"

"_Considering how important this is, Lilith will likely use an experienced witch. I can tell if a soul is older than the body, but that's about it. I can also sense demons."_

"She can sense if the witch is hiding in a younger body. Said that Lilith will likely used a more experienced witch to bring Samhain out," said Dean.

"How does this angel know about the seals?" asked Bobby.

Dean's eyes flashed as Arael took control. Bobby noticed that the eyes were a bright blue instead of the green he was so used to.

"_Just because I was being tortured into insanity didn't mean I couldn't listen. The demons _bragged_ about the first seal breaking and some of them were eagerly talking about Lucifer being set free by Lilith. Dean was in too much pain to hear them, but they spoke of which seals Lilith might break. The rest I learned from my garrison commander,"_ said Arael.

"Who was your commander?"

"_Gabriel. He left centuries ago because he was sick of the fighting between Micheal and Lucifer, shortly after God left. It was because of Micheal that I was in the pit in the first place...he wanted to have one of the lower angels replace him to keep the peace."_

"How were you captured?" asked Bobby.

"_Word of Micheal's plans leaked to the demons, and they sent an arch demon out without us knowing. I screamed for them to come help, but Micheal ignored me. If Dean hadn't let me borrow his body, I would still be in that pit,"_ said Arael. Her tone was full of anger and suffering. Bobby shivered. Any doubts he had about Arael vanished hearing that.

Then he remembered something he had heard offhand from a neutral witch doctor.

"I've heard that Gabriel's been hiding in some church. One of my old friends mentioned that one of the better exorcists over there bitched about his self-righteous attitude a lot."

"Samhain first, then we see if it's Gabriel. Arael needs a lot of healing before she can be of any help to us, and she's still really pissed with the other arch angels. He's the only one she trusts," said Dean.

Bobby grunted in agreement. He could give them directions once they dealt with this demon and stopped the rising.

* * *

Sam took one look at the sexy cheerleader and hissed at Dean, "Two words: Jail Bait."

Dean was about to reply when Arael beat him to it.

"_Two words. Old Hag,"_ she countered.

Dean took another look at the cheerleader when he heard that. If Arael said that this was a witch, he would trust her. After all, none of the teens had noticed an older person slip the hex bag, and he knew they could change their appearance.

They followed the girl into a secluded alley before they killed her. They hid the body so that they could make sure there wasn't a second witch.

Dean and Sam went back to the hotel shortly after interviewing the art teacher, who Arael said was the second witch only to run into a major problem.

Castiel and Uriel. Arael hissed at the taller one.

Sam noticed Castiel looking at Dean oddly before he found something. The angel who looked past his little demon blood problem long enough to shake his hand also slipped something into his palm.

Sam slipped it into his pocket before Uriel saw it.

When the angels left, Sam looked at the paper. It was in a language he couldn't read, so he handed it over to Dean to see if Arael could.

"_'We need to talk',"_ read Arael.

* * *

Once they killed the second witch (after looking up his home address) before midnight even came, Arael set up an angel-proof place so they could speak without heaven overhearing them. Castiel appeared once it was done and stepped inside.

"I have asked around Heaven. There are conflicting stories, but Sealtiel remembers Micheal sending one of Gabriel's garrison commanders to Earth."

Arael took control and Castiel noticed immediately.

"_So _someone_ finally learned the truth?"_ she asked bitterly. Castiel didn't blame her in the least.

"If I had known you were down there I would have taken you too," said Castiel.

Arael looked at him, searching his soul. Castiel let her, not hiding anything.

"_Will wonders never cease, one of Micheal's angels who isn't a sycophantic asshole," _said Arael in open surprise.

"What happened?"

"_An arch demon caught wind of Micheal's _great plan_ and set a trap. I screamed for a week before they dragged my broken body to the pit and tortured me for centuries. Mephistopheles' favorite torture was forcing humans to take my Grace and turning them into the Riders. If the current one hadn't willingly let it go, I might not have caught Dean's attention at all."_

"A demon used your Grace to create the Ghost Riders?" said Castiel horrified. The thought of having his Grace ripped out and forced into the same humans they were meant to save...it was no wonder Astarael went insane.

"_Dean saw me in the pit, and when the demons were distracted by your rescue allowed me to use him as a vessel so I can heal and hopefully go home. I will say this, even if I do return to heaven I am never trusting the arch angels again. They are liars and betrayers,"_ said Arael angrily.

"I told Sealtiel about my suspicions... he has agreed to keep his silence until the others find out on their own."

Arael looked openly surprised at that admission...then again Sealtiel had been rather close to Gabriel. The two were pranking buddies.

"What do you plan to do now, Astarael?" asked Castiel.

"_I'm going to find Gabriel. He's the only one I trust who can heal me enough that I can actually do some good before the seals are broken."_

Castiel nodded.

"I can possibly restore you enough that you can hear the chatter," he offered.

Arael looked surprised. Clearly Castiel was different from the other angels. Most of them wouldn't hesitate to abandon her after the ordeal she went through.

"_Thank you," _she said in honest surprise.

Castiel put his hand on Dean's head, and let some of his Grace reach Astarael. She could feel the warmth of it and knew Castiel was definitely unlike the others in heaven. He genuinely cared about the humans and he was unhappy with the fact that they had abandoned her when she had cried for help.

Hearing the voices of heaven again really brought her tears of joy.

"I will do what I can to help find Gabriel, but he's been hiding for centuries," said Castiel.

"We have a lead. One of Bobby's friends said that one of the exorcists is in regular contact with an angel claiming to be Gabriel," said Sam.

"If the exorcist is John Constantine, I should warn you that it's not Gabriel. That particular angel is a seraph from Uriel's garrison by the name of Kirael. She takes great pleasure in reminding humanity of it's faults," warned Castiel.

Dean retook control so Arael could absorb the Grace properly.

"Then I will have great fun in blowing her cover," said Dean. Constantine will likely be pissed about the ruse as well, and would be happy to remind the angels that they didn't belong on Earth.

"I will try to help where I can. However because I have been asking about Astarael the others are starting to take note of my actions," warned Castiel.

"You've already done more than they have. If push comes to shove you can travel with us for a while," said Dean. Sam nodded in agreement.

Castiel vanished, and the two left after making sure that the demon wouldn't rise.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean and Sam made it to the city in time to learn of a psyche patient jumping off a building.

Normally this wouldn't draw any attention, but they were trained to pick up on weird deaths like that. Especially since every sign said it was a suicide but the woman's twin sister was very convinced it was otherwise.

"So where exactly is Bobby's friend anyway?" asked Sam.

"In a bar. He said something about it being a haven for above and below, so we can't hunt anyone while we're there. Insulting to the point of blows is fine, but no hunting," said Dean.

Even Arael had heard of Midnite's bar. The demons who occasionally stopped by her cell loved it.

"Right. Let's meet up with him first then," said Sam.

* * *

The found a nice parking lot and Arael insured the Impala wouldn't be stolen by any punks before going in. Midnite rarely left the bar, mostly because he had made several enemies and was mostly an informant these days.

"What's with the card?" asked Dean.

"You want in? You have to be able to tell me what's on the other side," said the bouncer.

"Come on Dean, it's just a bird on a ladder... And how did I know that?" wondered Sam aloud to himself.

He had been able to see the other side clear as day. And he had no idea why.

The bouncer let him in. Dean tried, but saw nothing. So Arael took over.

"_King on a throne with a rather tacky looking scepter," _said Arael dryly. The bouncer wasn't even fazed, and let Dean through.

They went straight to the back, ignoring both angels and demons in the place. It was the only way they could handle not shooting them on sight.

"Come in," came the voice on the other side of the door.

Inside was a black man wearing some rather out-of-date clothing...but it was still acceptable.

"Sam and Dean Winchester. Never thought I would see either of you two grace my establishment until you either rose or fell. Particularly you Dean."

"Things change," said Dean evenly, before adding "Bobby said hi by the way."

"And how is that old man?" asked Midnite.

"Still as grumpy as ever," said Sam.

Midnite chuckled.

"So what can I do for you two? Come to sell some of the things your father collected? I guarantee that the artifacts never go into the hands of the uninitiated."

"Didn't know there was a place we could sell them. No, we're looking for someone. An arch angel by the name of Gabriel."

"Gabriel is currently at St. Trinian's church. I told Bobby that when he called," said Midnite.

"Castiel told us that the one who speaks with Constantine is really a seraph by the name of Kirael, one of Uriel's garrison. We want the real Gabriel not some faker," said Dean.

"Castiel? One of Micheal's garrison angels," said Midnite. He had heard increasing rumors that one of the angels under Micheal named Castiel had been asking around about one of the angels captured by Mephistopheles.

The other angels who came to the bar weren't happy. They didn't want anyone to know that they had abandoned one of theirs to the demons to keep the lower ranks happy.

Arael took over.

"_I need to find Gabriel. He's the only one who can help fix some of the damage Alistair did without making things worse. We have to stop the Apocalypse from happening, because the angels sure as heaven aren't doing their job,"_ she said flatly.

Midnite blinked.

"So that's how you got in. You must be Astarael."

"Call her Arael. Makes it harder for them to track her," said Dean.

"I don't know where Gabriel is, but I do remember a rumor back when I was still hunting about Loki, the pagan god. Something about how he wasn't really a trickster," offered Midnite.

"Loki?" said Dean in disgust. Sam made a face next to him.

Suddenly the door opened, revealing a tired man in a long black coat wearing a white shirt that reeked of cigarette smoke.

"Please, don't get up," he said getting a chair.

"And you are?" asked Dean.

"Constantine."

"Constantine, as in John Constantine the exorcist? Bobby said you were one of the best," said Sam.

"You've heard of me?"

"We heard you were one of the best exorcists in the game and that you often tell Demons to shove their pitchforks up their collective ass on a regular basis," said Dean.

"Sounds like John," said Midnite amused.

"And you two are?"

"Sam and Dean Winchester."

John paused.

"Winchester as in the Winchester brothers? There's been some major traffic about you two lately. Mostly about how you've been able to get ahead of the angels."

Dean and Sam were about to leave when Arael suddenly dove deeper into Dean's subconscious. A demon walked in, one that John clearly had a history with.

"Balthazar," growled John.

Suddenly he started coughing up blood. Sam and Dean helped him through the crowds outside.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. We're between hunts anyway. So what's this about demon activity on the rise?" asked Dean.

John told them about the case he was on.

"So recently you pulled a demon who was trying to claw it's way out of a little girl?" asked Sam.

"Demons can only possess right? So why would one try to get out like that?" said Dean.

"I don't know, but I've been feeling something big is happening recently."

Dean and Sam shared a look.

"What do you know about the Apocalypse?" asked Dean.

Constantine sat down and looked at them. They had given him a lift to his loft above the bowling alley, and he had decided to let them in on the hunt. He could use any help he could get at this point.

Besides, he had heard about the Winchesters, and unlike his pseudo apprentice Chas they knew exactly what they were doing.

"Enlighten me," he said.

Dean told him about the blood tournament Azazel brought together and how he had made a deal to bring his brother back. How he had unknowingly broken the first seal on Lucifer's cage when he spilled blood in the pit...and the hitchhiker he had hidden from the angels when they brought him back.

Arael appeared as well, and told John about how the angels weren't likely to try and stop the mess from happening because they _wanted_ Lucifer out so they could end him permanently and allow Micheal to rule.

Constantine listened to them, and when he finally spoke, he saw the three words they needed the most.

"I believe you."

"You do?" said Sam in open relief.

"I've noticed an unusual amount of soul traffic lately, and the amount of half-breeds on Earth has been increasing for the past few months. Angels are assholes and I wouldn't put it past them to let Lucifer out just so Micheal could take over," said John.

Arael snorted.

"_Gabriel once said that if he wasn't an angel himself he would call his brothers dicks with wings. Hardly any of them give a damn about humanity anymore and he was sick of all the in-fighting."_

"I find it hard to believe Gabriel cares about humans when he's a bigger asshole," said John with venom.

"St. Trinian's church? That Gabriel?" asked Dean.

"You knew?"

"We were told by one of Micheal's that the angel claiming to be Gabriel is actually one of Uriel's garrison leaders... her real name is Kirael. And considering Cas didn't look disgusted when he shook Sam's hand and actually helped Arael without being asked, I think he's one of the few good ones," said Dean.

"So what do you want to do?" asked John.

"First we find out what's really going on in this city. We heard something about a psyche ward patient jumping, and the girl's twin said that she was devoutly Catholic. We both know demons can give pushes that can't been seen on tape," said Dean.

John nodded. He wouldn't put it past the demons to make a diehard Catholic commit suicide, or cause it.

* * *

John opened the door to reveal...the detective he kept running into.

"Come in," he said sarcastically. He had been hoping to hear from the Winchester brothers. They were out researching anything unusual about the town and avoiding the increased traffic from both sides.

Angela Dodson made her case, and when John chased after her when he saw the demon wings, he knew that something was definitely up.

He called the brothers to let them know where he was going. It was nice to have competent back up for once.

* * *

Dean was in the liquor store to get some beer for later, since he didn't want to go to Midnite's with all the increased traffic in the town. That was how he saw the priest come in looking rather deranged.

Arael took control and kept him from the alcohol.

"Easy there, padre. What's wrong?" she said in Dean's voice. She might not be able to heal or purge demonic influence, but she could knock him out without harming him.

"Have to... have to warn John."

"John Constantine?" she asked.

The priest nodded.

Arael gently tapped him on the head and knocked him out cold before he could hurt himself. She saw the angel behind the counter look at him in alarm and whistled for Sam. Between the two of them they were able to get the priest out of there without him getting killed.

Out of the corner of Dean's eyes, she spotted a demon looking rather put out that the priest had been rescued. It was Balthazar, the one John had been all too ready to kill from the club.

Dean called John.

"_Constantine."_

"John, we found a priest about to have a real go at a liquor store. Said that he had to warn you about something. He looked real spooked too...and your old buddy Balthazar was in the area looking really annoyed with us," warned Dean.

"_Priest? He a fat fellow with a Wiccan amulet?"_ asked John on the other end.

Sam found the amulet.

"Looks like."

"_Can you meet me at the loft? It's warded against demons," _asked John.

"We'll be there in five," said Dean.

Once they got there they barricaded the door and salted it. Only after John and the detective drank the holy water did they let them in.

"Why didn't you call me you fat son of a bitch," muttered John as Arael woke him up.

Hennesy, the fat priest Dean had rescued, told John about the symbol he had found on the dead woman's body. Angela looked rather upset about the fact her sister had been possessed shortly before she had jumped.

Hennesy got a lift to Midnite's club, where he would be safe until this whole mess was sorted out. John wasn't risking one of his only friends if a demon was starting to target them. Beeman reluctantly went with him, mostly because John insisted.

He had so few people he could trust, and he would be damned if he let Balthazar take them out.

"So...who are you two?"

Dean was about to flash his fake badge when Arael took control. There was little point in lying, she would likely see through it anyway.

"_My name is Arael and the body I'm borrowing belongs to Dean. The Sasquatch is Sam."_

"Arael? Unusual name."

Dean mentally glared at his inner angel before he explained.

"Long story short I have an angel in my head and she doesn't exactly like the other winged dicks," said Dean.

"Winged dicks?"

"Angels are more like dicks with wings, because they don't give a shit about humanity, and the few that do care are too low ranked to do any good. Hell, they allowed a demon to help jump start the Apocalypse just so Micheal and Lucifer could have their big fight, winner take all," said Dean irritably.

"I would say you're crazy but..."

"With all that's happened lately you're more inclined to believe in the supernatural," finished Sam.

Angela nodded.

"Don't feel too bad. We were practically raised in this bullshit after our mother was killed by a demon," said Sam.


	5. Chapter 5

John and the Winchesters were heading for Balthazar's place, mostly because Arael had seen him at the scene were Hennesy nearly killed himself. Angela was being kept safe at John's loft, since he had recently reawakened the Sight she had denied years ago. Twins were always more powerful, and when one twin died the other tended to awaken new abilities. And he didn't trust her not to get caught by the increasing number of demons who would jump at someone as strong as her.

Someone who was still too green to know the exorcism, let alone have the tattoo to prevent possession.

Dean was bored, but he took the amulet and slipped it around his neck next to the one Sam had given him years ago for one misbegotten Christmas. That had been a hellish year, and Sam had nightmares for months when he finally figured out what Dean had been trying to keep him away from. Finding out why their father had them learning basic Latin and how to kill things when they were children had come as a hard blow to his innocence, and Dean had hated ever minute of it.

Not to mention John had been a bit of an alcoholic and a real asshole when drunk.

"_Want me to take over?"_ asked Arael as Dean got caught reminiscing on how much John had screwed them over.

_'I'm fine.'_

"_Good, because John's about to storm the place with that wicked flamethrower and I want to be in on this,"_ said Arael eagerly.

After being held in the pit for god knows how long, she would take any chance to screw over a demon, especially one as annoying as Balthazar. Something Dean could agree with in a heartbeat.

Seeing John use blessed brass knuckles on the bastard, Arael was openly cheering for the exorcist. When he pulled out the bible, she interrupted him.

"_Let me if you want it to stick,"_ she said far too eagerly.

John blinked before he smirked.

"A demon in heaven... I would love to be a fly on _that_ wall," he said by way of answer as he handed over the bible with the passage marked.

"Ha! He doesn't have the power to send me to heaven!" sneered Balthazar.

"Your right, Dean doesn't have that kind of power. But an angel does," said John.

"_And right now you're stuck with a rather pissed off seraph who will take great pleasure in pissing off both heaven and hell. Tough luck moron. Maybe I'll be nice and kill you instead if you talk,"_ said Arael.

A flickering of real fear came to Balthazar's eyes. Hunters were one thing, he could handle John on a good day if he wasn't sick...but a pissed off Seraph with a grudge against heaven and willing cohorts was another matter entirely. He didn't need anyone to tell him which one he was dealing with...the blue eyes alone spoke volumes.

Astarael, Mephistopheles favorite torture victim and the source of his prized Riders. How had she escaped?!

As Arael started speaking the blessing, Balthazar could feel the power behind it and knew if he didn't do something fast he really would end up in heaven and not back in the pit.

"SANGRE DE DIO!" he cried.

Arael paused as John held him up.

"The Blood of God will bring forth the son of the devil!"

"The spear," muttered John.

"_Does this mean I have to let him die, or can I piss off the other angels?"_ asked Arael.

John thought about it.

"What do you think?"

Arael mocked thought. As fun as killing this bastard was, sending him to heaven would make a more powerful statement that she wasn't dead yet and she was still very much pissed that they had abandoned her.

"_Give Micheal and the other assholes a message for me. Tell them Astarael sends her regards and that they can shove their plans for Lucifer up their collective assholes,"_ she said before she finished the prayer and crushed Balthazar as soon as it took hold.

Balthazar cried out in horror and rage as he ascended rather than fall back into hell. John looked at the angel with respect and amusement.

"Is it a bad thing that I happen to like you more than the other angelic assholes?"

"_Considering that unless you do something to clear your record you'll end up on the same racks we escaped, not really. Unlike the other angels I happen to _like_ humanity because they haven't screwed me over yet. And Dean was the only one to give a damn about what happened to me,"_ said Arael. Dean's body shuddered as he retook control.

"She had way too much fun doing that," he said...though he was definitely as amused by what she did as John was.

John laughed openly.

"Wish I could have someone as fun as that as back-up," he said in opened amusement. He liked that angel. She was his kind of person...screwed over above and below and determined to get her own back on the bastards that did it to her.

"Oh it gets better. She's the original power behind the Ghost Riders," said Sam.

John blinked before he whirled towards Dean.

"Seriously?"

"The bastard who caught her ripped her Grace, the power behind the angels, out and stuffed it into unwilling vessels. And when the Rider was taken out it went back to her. Ripped her mind to shreds...if the current one hadn't returned it before he was dead of his own free will I wouldn't have been able to find her. Figured since she kept me sane in that hellhole I owed her to get her out."

"You two are good people," said John. It was rare to find someone who was honestly that good inside.

"Yeah, just wish heaven and hell would quit trying to screw us over and butt fuck us," said Dean irritably.

"Welcome to my world," said John dryly, before they got into the Impala.

Dean had heard John had a suspended license for a reason by Midnite...and while his driving might be insane it wasn't _that_ bad. Hence why they had taken the Impala rather than John's vehicle.

* * *

John frowned when he got to his loft. The door was open, and that was never a good sign. He always locked it...it activated the wards inside.

"Angela?" he called out.

There wasn't any answer...but the window was wide open.

Dean and Sam walked in, guns drawn.

Arael reeled back the minute Dean got close to the window.

"_An angel was in here. That window reeks of Grace,"_ she hissed.

"John? Your loft warded against angels?"

John shook his head.

"Only demons. Never thought I would need it against angels, and I wouldn't know _how_," he said.

"Well one just broke into your house...and since Angela's missing we can only assume she was taken," said Dean.

Arael took over.

"_I can help ward this place against above and below. I might have lost my sanity in the pit but I never lost the ability to use glyphs. Gabriel was a very good teacher when it came to Enochian sigils...he always found it amusing to banish his brothers into the worst places possible, like a brothel just to see the expressions on their faces,"_ said Arael.

John snorted.

"Sounds like an angel I could get along with," he said.

"_Gabriel and Sealtiel were the biggest pranksters in heaven,"_ said Arael.

"Dammit. Looks like I'll have to use the chair after all," cursed John.

"The chair?" asked Sam.

"You'll find out soon enough."

* * *

Dean and Sam looked at the antique executioner's chair in disbelief.

"This is the chair?" asked Dean.

"Which way is east?" asked John.

Midnite pointed in the direction and John slid the chair into position.

"You don't have to do this John. Sam here is strong enough to surf without being killed in the process," said Midnite.

"What do you mean surf?" asked Dean.

"Surf the ether. People with strong enough Sight can surf the ether for events that have happened or will happen shortly for information...but it's really hard on the human body."

"Is it any worse than ingesting demon's blood?" asked Sam quietly. He was still ashamed of that, but he might as well get it out now.

"No. But if you have been drinking that crap you should stop while you can. If you get enough into your system you'll become a partial vampire and slowly slip into the pit. It might boost psychic powers but the withdrawal isn't worth the boost," said Midnite.

"How bad?"

"If you think a regular druggie coming off the pills is bad, that's nothing compared to demon's blood addiction. Once he starts having the withdrawal symptoms he could lose complete control over his abilities and kill people," said Midnite flatly.

"Right. We're killing Ruby and you are never taking that crap again Sammy," said Dean equally flat.

Sam nodded shakily.

"So how does one surf the ether?" asked Sam. If he could help, then he would.

John gave him the basics, and Sam sat down. Dean wasn't about to keep Sam from learning such a useful trick, especially since they might be able to use this later.

He watched in alarm as Midnite slammed the broken bulb into the wet floor and Sam convulsed. A few seconds later he started to choke and they pulled him out.

"The hospital. The one where Angela's sister was at..." he gasped.

John eased him out of the chair and he took a long pull of the tequila Midnite had on him.

"How is he?"

"First time is always the hardest," said John.

* * *

Arael reeled back when they got close, and it had nothing to do with the overwhelming amount of sulfur in the air.

"What's up?" asked John.

"_There's an angel inside. Probably Kirael..."_ said Arael.

John cursed. Though now he was glad he hadn't brought Chas.

Exorcisms were one thing, but dealing with both above and below on his first official case was more than John would ever demand of his friend.

Sam went to the water storage for the sprinklers and blasted a hole open. He didn't know why Dean had him doing the easy work, but considering they were trying to stop Mephistopheles' youngest from coming out like Blackheart had a couple years ago he wasn't going to complain.

John was still in disbelief that the one people thought was Lucifer was actually an arch duke of hell called Mephistopheles. Though it certainly explained a lot.

"Dean!" yelped John. Something had thrown the hunter into the ceiling and back, and he was pretty banged up. He wasn't dead though...the angels still needed him to kill Lilith later so he was out cold instead.

John was thrown into the next room by Kirael.

"_CASTIEL! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE BEFORE MAMMON BREAKS LOOSE. WE NEED SOME BACK UP!" _shouted Arael from inside Dean's mind.

There was the sound of wings and Kirael came face to face with a less than happy Castiel.

"Kirael. We are not supposed to bring Mammon out into the world," said Castiel.

"Silence! You're just a soldier, I don't follow your orders," said Kirael.

"You do when they come from an arch angel, seraph. Sealtiel orders you to stop," said Castiel.

"I follow only Uriel's orders, not that fool!" snarled Kirael.

The doors where John had been thrown in burst open, revealing Mephistopheles himself. His disguise had changed since he was pretending to be Lucifer, but it was him. He didn't even pay any mind to Dean lying on the floor 'unconscious' even though Arael was currently in control while Dean recovered from the blow he had taken.

When Kirael went to smite Mephistopheles to insure Mammon was brought into the world, she found her fist stopped by another force.

Not god, because he wasn't paying any attention, but by Sealtiel who was rather pissed off with her at the moment. He wasn't in a vessel, but his power was felt.

"_Father?"_ whispered Kirael as her wings were stripped and she lost her Grace. Castiel winced.

Mephistopheles looked at the second angel, and Castiel immediately backed off.

"Smart move, angel," he sneered.

'Dean' got up once the demon had left and looked at Castiel in surprise.

Arael could sense that John had managed to clean his slate with Heaven, but he had pissed off enough of hell that Mephistopheles insured he would survive this. If only so that he would end up back on Alistair's racks.

Still, something passed through Dean's body after Kirael had her wings clipped. She would have to live as a human until either Uriel found out what happened and brought her back, or she died with a clean slate. Either way, her days as a seraph were over.

Heaven's army didn't take kindly to rogue angels trying to bring hell on earth without their say-so. Particularly since Mammon was one demon who would be a pain in the ass to send back.

Arael looked at Castiel.

"_So how did the big boys like the 'messenger' I sent them?"_ she had to ask.

Castiel blinked before he realized who was behind that demon suddenly showing up in heaven. That had sent the higher ups into a real tizzy.

"That was you?"

"_Of course it was me. He didn't deliver the message?"_ said Arael more than mildly disappointed.

"Sealtiel was laughing pretty hard when you sent that call. I think he knew who sent the demon up... Micheal was more than irate about one of them slipping through the gates. He wants the head of whoever sent it on a platter," Castiel warned her.

Arael snickered evilly.

Her little prank had gone better than she had hoped. If one demon sent Micheal into a fury, then what would a bunch of them do? Inside their shared head space, she could hear Dean cackling in agreement.

That was a prank worth doing, if it pissed off the angels and demons at the same time.

* * *

Constantine and the Winchesters exchanged numbers. It was rare to find anyone in their line of work who could understand them and not be judgmental about bad choices and really crappy luck...besides, they had a shared dislike of above and below. Though John was pleasantly surprised by Castiel who wasn't as irritating as 'Gabriel' had been about his suicide when he was fifteen.


	6. Chapter 6

Loki was listening to the angel chatter for the first time in years, and what he heard had him giggling like his old self.

_Someone_ was deliberately cleaning the slates of demons and then sending them up to the angels. And he was pretty sure it was deliberate too. Whoever it was he hoped that he ran into them, if only to shake their hand.

A demon in heaven. Now there was a prank even he hadn't dare try!

* * *

Dean and Sam were heading on a hot tip based on angel chatter to find a girl named Anna Milton. According to Arael the young woman had been caught listening to angels and they wanted to know why.

He was halfway through the state when suddenly Arael started humming some weird song. When he heard the words he nearly crashed into a tree from shock.

"Dear god...when the hell did you watch _South Park_?" asked Dean.

"_I heard the song while I was surfing. Quite catchy really."_

"Dean?" yawned Sam.

"Arael's singing that song from the _South Park_ movie in my head. You know, the one where they basically just line up a bunch of curse words in a catchy tune?"

"Where the hell did she hear that one?" asked Sam, blinking.

"Said she heard it while surfing. Arael, could you _please_ not hum stuff like that while I'm driving?"

"_Hey! It's not my fault it was so catchy. Unless you want Sam to have woken up hearing me sing it while you sleep,"_ said Arael openly amused.

Gabriel's personality was infectious...particularly around his garrison. Gabriel hand-picked his people, unlike some of the angels. He only took those with a sense of humor.

"So how far out are we?" asked Sam blinking.

"We're almost there," said Dean, before he openly yawned.

"Have you been driving all night?" asked Sam seriously.

"_Yes. Why did you think I started humming that song? I was trying to see if that would wake him up,_" said Arael.

"Okay that's it. Arael, you drive. Dean, you get some sleep. We're stopping at the first hotel we find," said Sam firmly. He was not dying because Dean was being a stubborn moron.

Arael gleefully took control and put in her new Ipod. Dean had been less than happy about the addition to his baby, but Arael had loved it because she got annoyed when Dean played too much of his usual songs.

Dean reluctantly closed his eyes. Their little agreement to split who was awake and who slept (though angels technically didn't need to sleep, Arael enjoyed it) had made things a little easier.

Arael kept Dean from remembering the pit by periodically waking him up and then coaxing him back into sleep. Any time she saw a spike in his dreams where he remembered the rack, she woke him up.

It was the most restful sleep he ever had, strangely enough.

* * *

Arael was very agitated when they went looking for Anna.

"_I think we found a rogue angel. This place reeks of leaking Grace,"_ she said to Dean.

_'You sure?'_

"What is it Dean?"

Dean used a quick set of hand signals to alert Sam that they might have a rogue angel on the loose.

_'Where would she go?'_

"_Angels feel the most comfortable in holy places. So try the church first. If she is an angel like I suspect, then she would have gone there the moment this demon came after her. Only the strongest can breach holy ground."_

It took them little time to find the church...and even less time for Arael to find Anna's Grace leaking from the upstairs.

"_Oh good grief...another one of Micheal's. How much do you want to bet he'll send Uriel after her once he knows we've found her?"_ complained Arael.

"Anna? This is Dean and Sam Winchester. We're here to get you out of here before any more demons show up," called Dean.

Anna was definitely an angel...she knew them by name and they had never met before.

It took them hours to get to Bobby's, who thankfully wasn't home just yet.

Anna wasn't like Arael. She had no memories of her true self.

"Should we call Pamela in?" asked Sam.

"No need. Arael said that if Anna remembers who she was, she might turn on us. Better she remain unaware for now."

"Unaware of what?" asked Anna.

"Uh..."

"What aren't you telling me?"

Arael had enough. Being around angels made her very edgy, especially when they were one of Micheal's garrison commanders.

"_Oh come off it Annabelle. You damn well know what you are, but you're still determined to cloak yourself in that human form because you didn't want Micheal to find out one of his commanders went rogue and tore out their own Grace. Knowing that ass he'll send Uriel to insure you don't come back, and I can't stand him on the best of times," _snapped Arael.

Something inside Anna shifted, and she looked at Dean in shock.

"How do you know me?"

Dean could see her angel side showing now. Her true self might have been hiding, but Arael had a way of forcing things like that to the surface.

"_I'm one of Gabriel's."_

"Gabriel went missing eons ago. Who are you really?"

"_Don't tell me you've forgotten me? What about all those time we had a drink after dealing with the idiots in our collective garrisons? I know you always had a headache trying to answer Castiel's questions about humanity...though at least he _has_ gotten a little better about it..."_ said Arael.

Anna's eyes widened.

"Astarael? They told us you died looking for Gabriel."

"_Micheal abandoned me after reassigning me to Gabriel's former post. He let me be captured by an arch duke and I screamed for days and no one came. Leave it to the arch angels to lie about their own mistakes,"_ growled Arael.

There was the sound of wings outside, and Castiel walked in.

"You need to get her out of here. Uriel is dead set on killing Anna before she regains her memories," he warned.

"Too late for that," snarked Sam.

"Why do you care?" asked Anna in honest confusion.

Castiel looked a bit uncomfortable.

"After my questioning of what really happened to Astarael, they transferred me to Gabriel's unit. They are leaderless without him or Astarael, and many are angry that Micheal keeps trying to replace their commander," said Castiel.

"What's so bad about that?" asked Sam.

"_Being transferred like that is an insult to an angel. It means that they are waiting for him to screw up big time before they send him on a suicide mission. For someone like Castiel, who was always a good little warrior, it means that they are more than ready to have him killed to shut him up. On the plus side, since I highly doubt they had the sense to revoke my authority over Gabriel's unit since they thought I was dead..."_ said Arael grinning.

Anna's eyes widened.

"If they believe you dead or still stuck in the pit, then you can overrule any orders given to him. You were the highest ranking commander in Gabriel's unit, barring Gabriel himself!" said Anna in shock.

"_Barring an arch angel, but from what I remember of home Gabriel's unit would have transferred to Sealtiel to avoid any chaos from lack of authority...and since he clearly isn't happy with what happened, they would have to get four of the remaining arch angels to agree to overrule him, and most of them hate dealing with the paperwork from that,"_ said Arael with glee.

"So what does this mean?"

"We would need to find Anna's Grace, but if she can return to heaven and get transferred to Gabriel's unit they wouldn't be able to touch her...not without Gabriel or Astarael's permission, or the other arch angels agreeing to it," said Castiel.

"Let's start looking for her Grace then," said Sam.

"_Don't bother. Chances are Uriel found it for us. We just need to trap him and get it back,"_ said Arael.

Seeing their confusion, Anna explained.

"Angels can sense Grace. I can't because I ripped it out and I'm partially disconnected to the Host... Astarael can't because..."

"_Because I can't even fly, much less use that much power to find hers. If Castiel hadn't fixed my antenna, I wouldn't even be able to hear them, much less transmit. Speaking of transmissions, do you hear that?" _asked Arael.

"'The Winchesters hand over Anna or we will throw Dean back into perdition,'" said Anna.

"_Not happening. Castiel, you might want to cover your ears,"_ said Arael.

Castiel immediately did so, as did Sam and Anna. Dean retook control long enough for Arael to send her answer to their threat.

It basically went along the lines of _'Fuck off, I know you're bluffing and you're not fooling anyone. The Micheal Sword stays put where he belongs, you hypocritical assholes.'_

Anna choked when she heard that, and the resulting outcry among the higher angels.

Clearly they were unaware Astarael was well enough to answer their threat.

But the biggest outcry came from Gabriel's unit.

Finding out that their beloved commander was alive, if heavily injured and pissed off, was something they had been needed for a long time.

Anna looked at her longtime friend shrewdly.

"You did that on purpose didn't you? You do realize that once they figure out where you're hiding that there will be a ton of angels on Earth hoping to follow you again right?"

"_I'm planning to find Gabriel and dump a shit ton of it on him first,"_ said Arael bluntly.

"If he's even alive," said Castiel.

"_He's alive, but he did something to hide himself. When I find him I am so chewing his ass out before demanding to know where he had been and tormenting him with my old black mail,"_ said Arael flatly.

Dean snorted inside his head at the thought of blackmailing an arch angel, and sent the silent request for Arael to have pictures on hand.

"Exactly how badly were you injured Astarael?"

"_So badly that my grace was literally the power behind the Ghost Riders. If Dean hadn't allowed me to use him as a way out, I would either be dead or worse, still on the racks. He has the option of becoming a Rider, but since chances are that he will turn his beloved Baby into his ride he's reluctant to try it. Well, that and the fact that I would pretty much be sending out a flare telling heaven where I am, but mostly because of the Impala,"_ said Arael.

Sam snorted.

"Dean said, and I quote, 'I don't know whether or not it's worth changing my car into a bad ass vehicle or not. I know it goes back to normal, but I don't want to risk my baby,'" said Sam dryly.

Arael had used Sam's laptop to give Dean a rough estimate of what his Impala would look like if he _did_ change it. Dean had loved it, but he loved the Impala like it was his own child. It nearly broke his heart when that jerk Azazel had that big rig ram into it.

Arael wondered how Dean would react if he knew that because of how much attention and love he had poured into his car, it was partially sentient. Be an interesting conversation...

* * *

While they waited for Uriel to show up and kill Anna, Dean asked Arael what she had meant by her answer to their bluff.

_'Arael...what was that bit about the Micheal Sword staying where he belongs?'_

"_That? You and Sam are actually Micheal and Lucifer's vessels. The term Micheal Sword is just a way of skirting around the fact that they needed humans to finish this mess. It's partially why you would likely be able to use the full extent of the Rider's powers...your body was designed in the womb to handle something much stronger."_

_'Wait, WHAT? What do you mean I'm Micheal's Vessel?!'_

"_You were born because you were destined to be Micheal's True Vessel, the one human on Earth who could use the full extent of his Grace. Sam is Lucifer's True Vessel, which was part of the reason why he was dosed all those years ago and why Ruby had been trying to turn him into a demon's blood addict...it was to insure that he would say yes later. Just because you're vessels doesn't mean you can't tell them to go screw themselves, or accept others."_

_'So what does this mean?'_

"_Means that we'll have a fun show when they find out that the body is already occupied by another angel. They can't get rid of me without damaging your body in a way that would make it useless for Micheal, and he can't trick you into saying yes because I'm already inside your soul, keeping it together."_

_'Basically they're screwed because I let you hitch a ride?'_

"_Exactly. Though we would have to find another angel in similar straits to do the same for Sam. Lucifer can't inhabit a vessel that's already occupied, and the only reason you and I can switch is because our souls were ripped pretty badly back in the pit. We're keeping each other together like make-shift glue."_

_'Guess we'll have to keep our eyes out then,'_ said Dean.

Castiel watched as Dean and Astarael conversed. It was very unusual for an angel and the vessel to be able to relinquish control like that...but considering how badly damaged Dean's soul had been, and the fact Astarael had been tortured for even longer and had her Grace ripped out and nearly destroyed, perhaps it wasn't. Clearly the only thing keeping the two from falling apart was faith and trust.

Castiel inwardly snorted.

Micheal and the others could learn a thing from the hunter and the almost-dead angel. If they could only share the vessel like these two were, then why couldn't they do what Father had wanted them to do? Protect and love the humans? Why did they have to take full control all the time, instead of sharing space?

Inside his head, he heard the voice of Jimmy speak up in agreement. Perhaps after this he could let the man return home for a time until he was needed again, rather than just keeping in control.

Uriel had Anna's Grace. After a brief struggle Anna was able to grab the vial and smash it. She went right past the gates and landed next to a waiting Sealtiel.


	7. Chapter 7

"So where to next?" yawned Sam.

It had been two weeks since Anna went back to heaven to tell Gabriel's unit what really happened to Astarael and one week since Castiel let his Vessel have partial control over his body again.

Jimmy Novak was more than happy to _share_ the body so long as he was allowed to have some say in the matter.

Seeing the symbiotic relationship Dean had with Astarael had convinced Castiel it was possible to share and not force the vessel to give up their life until the angel's job was done.

It certainly made waiting for the next case much easier.

"Well since we haven't had any hits I thought we could go find Loki."

"If he happens to be Gabriel, do you think Arael will have any issues with us punching him in the face?" asked Sam.

Arael switched with Dean.

"_I saw the Mystery Spot. If it is him like I suspect, then you each get one free punch...or a kick to the gonads. And I'll even make sure he doesn't try to rabbit off,"_ said Arael.

"How?"

"_Angels are susceptible to two things readily available to humans. Fire made with holy oil, and soul fire. Though soul fire is only available to a select rare few with the right predisposition."_

"What's soul fire?"

"_You know how the Rider bursts into flames when he takes over his human host? Well the red fire indicates hell fire, meaning he's completely at the mercy of the spirit. Blue fire means that they've learned to coexist with the spirit they are saddled with and can use soul fire, which is fueled entirely by the combined energies of the human and angel."_

Sam blinked.

"Does this mean Dean can use it?"

"_Absolutely. Though his appearance might change quite a bit..."_

"How much?"

"_Sam, the only way Dean would be able to use soul fire would be if he became a Rider, or as close as you can get without agreeing to be Mephistopheles' newest bitch. Which means his skeleton would literally be showing for all the world to see and his head would be on fire. Not to mention it would alert the angels where I'm hiding, seeing as how they still believe I'm inside the stunt driver who's in hiding over in Europe,"_ said Arael.

"So where do we get the holy oil?"

"_Leave that to Castiel. I told him our plans and he should be meeting up with us at Bobby's house. I still have to angel-proof that panic room of his,"_ said Arael. She switched back with Dean, who had been amusing himself with all the random crap Arael watched while they 'slept'.

Sam looked at his brother who was amused by something.

"She's into _Robot Chicken _now. Apparently she watched the entire first three seasons," said Dean.

Arael didn't have any set schedule. She just picked a random show off of the _Hulu Plus_ subscription Dean had sprung for and spent entire nights either watching the series or going season by season. Dean had quit trying to keep track of what she had watched. Instead he would go into her video library (Arael had an eidetic memory) whenever he was bored on a hunt and 'watch' them while she took control.

In exchange she would play some of his songs from memory whenever Sam complained too much about his tapes.

Though occasionally she did toss in some of her favorites just to surprise Dean.

Castiel stopped by Bobby's with the holy oil. Dean and Sam took one bottle and Bobby put the other in the panic room for safekeeping. While they were there, Arael started angel-proofing the room, making it a safe place where angels couldn't get into. They also couldn't see or hear inside, which was something Bobby was glad for.

In the event they had to barricade themselves against angels, all Bobby had to do was lay a barrier of holy oil in front of the door and set it on fire before closing it.

Holy oil would burn for a very long time, and angels couldn't cross it. Humans, however, could easily jump it so long as the flames weren't too high.

However in the case of Arael, she would have to give Dean total control over his body in order to get past it. She might be an angel, but her form was so broken that she was just barely able to slip through that barrier.

Something they planned to put to use if and when they caught up to Loki.

The race was on to find Loki.

* * *

Loki was bored. Ever since he had that good laugh when he heard his favorite commander tell his brothers to shove their demands up their collective ass, he hadn't heard a peep from her.

So when he caught wind that the Winchester idiots were looking for him specifically, he could only assume that they wanted a little payback for the whole Mystery Spot prank.

Still, he was bored out of his mind, so he left a trail of breadcrumbs so he could see what they wanted.

It took them all of a week to get in his general location, and two days before they actively tried to find him.

And almost immediately he knew something was up with Dean Winchester. For someone who had recently come out of hell, his soul was way too stable and whole.

And the first thing they did when they caught up to him...was to punch him in the face (Sam) and a swift kick to the balls (Dean).

"Okay, I may have deserved that," said Loki, "Now why have you two morons been looking for me?"

"Oh, we're not actually looking for you. We're looking for someone else, and we heard you might know where he is," said Dean.

Loki blinked.

"Who are you looking for?" he asked.

Suddenly something shifted in Dean. Loki could sense it almost immediately and knew that whatever had happened in hell had changed Dean profoundly.

"Who or what are you?" he asked in surprise. Dean definitely had someone else sharing space in that empty skull of his...the question was what.

Dean's eyes were blue. A shade he hadn't seen in ages...and what 'Dean' said next nearly made him bolt.

"_Micheal is a complete and utter asshole. Why the hell didn't you take me with you when you left you jerk?!"_

"Who are you?"

Dean's eyes glared at him, and suddenly he felt a shot of Grace that was almost shredded beyond repair. It took him less than a second to place it.

"_Astarael?!"_ said Loki in shock, "What happened to you?"

"_Micheal came up with the 'brilliant' idea to replace you with a lower angel to keep the garrison quiet. I volunteered to keep them from trying to place some moron in charge, and then I get sent to Earth to deal with some 'minor' demon that had been causing trouble. What no one thought to warn me about was that the demon in question was in fact an arch duke who had heard of Micheal's plan by the name of Mephistopheles,"_ said Arael, before she openly shuddered from memories she tried hard to repress, _"I screamed for a week for Micheal to send someone to come help and not one angel came to get me out of there. I've spent the past several centuries on Alistair's racks...in between fueling that bastard's little pet Rider. If Dean hadn't found me and allowed me to hitchhike on his soul, I would still be down there."_

Loki looked beyond horrified...he was pissed.

"He just _left_ you to him? How in heaven did no one notice your signature on the Rider and make the connection?!" said Loki outraged.

"Arael's Grace was torn to shreds. She couldn't even hear the angel radio until Cas healed her a little," said Sam.

"Arael?"

"Astarael is way too hard to pronounce," said Dean.

"How are the two of you doing that? Last time I checked, Vessels generally didn't have any say in what happened, let alone be able to switch back and forth," said Loki curious.

"_My soul was shredded so badly I went insane. Dean's soul was nearly broken. By sharing the same body we can anchor each other...and Dean lets me use his body at night while his mind sleeps."_

"The two of them are a surprisingly good team. She keeps the two of us from having nightmares and we make sure that the angels don't find her," said Sam.

"You two don't have an issue with the fact Dean is sharing head space with an angel?" said Loki in honest surprise.

"Arael's practically an honorary Winchester," said Dean.

Arael suddenly snorted, _"Though Micheal is still rather pissed and hell bent on finding whoever keep sending the demons up instead of down."_

Sam snickered.

"That was you? Oh man, that was hilarious hearing the others bitch about that!" cackled Loki. Leave it to his second-in-command to come up with a way to piss the other garrisons off without blowing her cover.

"_Should have heard the things Micheal said when I sent that asshole Balthazar up. It would have made a nun blush!"_ said Arael vehemently.

"So why did you need to find me?" asked Loki.

"We needed to find Gabriel so we could help Arael. She's been leaking Grace since she left hell, and the only one she would trust to even help fix the problem was him," said Sam.

"Well you found him... and how did you find me anyway?"

"Midnite heard rumors you might not be a trickster and told us to start looking for you," said Dean.

Loki clapped his hands.

"Right... let me see how bad the damage is. You have to remember I've been out of contact with the Host for longer than she has."

Loki...no, this was fully Gabriel now, touched Dean's head and nearly reared back in shock and rage.

"That does it... I don't care what Micheal says, there is no excuse for this level of damage. Next time I see him he is so getting his ass kicked..." growled Gabriel.

Arael's soul wasn't just shredded almost beyond repair, it was barely being held together by anchoring herself to Dean's broken one. Her mind was fully dependent on Dean's to remain even _remotely_ stable.

And considering how screwed up the Winchester brothers were, that wasn't exactly a good thing.

Gabriel did what he could to fix the damage, but the only real way to fix what had been broken would be for her to return to the Host and get a new infusion of natural Grace instead of borrowed. It was a miracle she hadn't fallen with how bad the damage was.

Arael nearly wept with relief as she felt her wings starting to grow back.

Dean could feel the difference too. He could sense her form regrowing back into what it should be...and if he could look at her without going blind he would compare the difference rather easily.

Arael when they first left the pit resembled a half-rotted corpse, spiritually wise. Now she just looked like a half dead person in dire need of being sent to a hospital. It was a major difference.

Finally Gabriel let go.

"I've done what I can for the immediate damage, but it would take several sessions of sharing my Grace with her before it would do any real good. At best she'll be able to do a little more now, but that's it."

"You've done plenty already. I can tell she's a lot more stable than before..." said Dean immediately.

"If I had known she was down there I would have stormed the place myself. There is no excuse for sending her on a suicide mission like that and I sure as hell don't appreciate the fact Micheal just abandoned her without a fight," growled Gabriel.

"How can we contact you in case of emergency?" asked Sam.

"I have a phone, believe it or not. It's safer than praying for me because angels don't exactly bother to track cell phones. And there's no way I'm leaving my second-in-command like that after finding out what Micheal did to her."

Gabriel suddenly quirked a grin.

"Besides I can't wait for that moron Zachariah to learn that you're already playing vessel to another angel."

"You and Sealtiel both, according to Castiel," said Sam.

"Castiel? That little nerd?"

"Nerd in a trenchcoat," said Dean.

"The guy was a serious downer, even when he was still trying to impress Micheal," said Gabriel, popping in a sucker.

"They stuck in him in your garrison because he learned what happened to Arael and started asking questions," said Sam. Gabriel damn near choked on his sucker.

"Now I'm really going to kill Micheal. He knows I hate boring people under me!" whined Gabriel.

"Hey, Cas is a nice guy," said Sam. He felt he had to defend the only angel who didn't show any disgust over the fact he had recently been addicted to demon's blood.

They had barely been able to get him to stop drinking it in time to prevent a full blown withdrawal episode by killing Ruby.

Dean had taken quite a bit of pleasure killing that demon bitch after Arael pointed out that Ruby had let Lilith kill him to get to Sam.

* * *

Gabriel's solution to the fact he couldn't hang around the Winchesters for too long without drawing attention? Make Sam a walking battery for Grace. It not only gave Arael something to siphon off whenever the patch job he had done began to fail, it also cleared Sam completely of the demon's blood he still had inside of him.

It was just a stop-gap measure, more of a quick fix until they could find a more permanent solution...but the benefits outweighed any problems that might come out of it. Like for example the angels somehow figuring out that they could find the missing Gabriel through them.

When he wasn't being a jerk and tormenting the brothers, he was actually rather easy to get along with...and it was clear where Arael had developed her sense of humor from.

Gabriel was still torn between giggling over how Dean had pretty much ruined heaven's plan to force the Apocalypse to happen early through them by allowing Astarael to piggy back on the way out of hell, and pissed off with his older brother Micheal for allowing it to happen in the first place.


	8. Chapter 8

Arael was steamed. Zachariah was trying to teach the brothers a lesson on how hunting was in their blood, something Dean already knew from his trip to the past. And because the place was full of angels, or people who worked for them, she couldn't come out.

Dean's nightmares got worse as she was unable to wake him, and she was unable to stay up in his body to watch her usual movies.

She got over that by re-watching the ones she had already seen in her mind.

So when they finally had the chance to see Zachariah, it was all she could do not to take control and rip him a new one.

He was one of Micheal's more arrogant and hypocritical seraphs, and she had hated him even before he gained that position.

Instead she settled for shocking him long enough for Dean to aim a very painful kick to the balls fueled by her Grace.

She would have to borrow some of the power left behind by Gabriel still in Sam, but the look of shock and utter pain in the bastard's face made it totally worth it. So was the parting shot Dean gave him.

"Hope you like the company we keep sending above. Who knew Angels were just as big a pricks as demons?" sneered Dean.

The look on Zachariah's face when that comment finally sunk in and he realized what he meant? Totally worth the two weeks of white collar hell she had gone through.

Dick.

Dean took one look at the cover of a book Sam had in his hand and swore. Arael, almost asleep, snorted when she saw what it was.

"_Was wondering when you two would finally find out about those,"_ she said.

_'Find about...what the hell are these things?!'_

"_You know how there are chronicles in the bible about the apostles? Well every so often new ones are written by the current Prophet...you two just had the rather...interesting luck of being stuck in a mainstream fantasy/horror book written by someone who has no idea what he really is."_

Dean choked, and Sam looked at the book.

"What the hell?"

The book read _Supernatural_...and it was about them.

Arael laughed at their disbelief.

"We need to talk to this guy..." said Dean irritably. No way in hell was he allowing this guy to blow Arael's cover. So far they had managed to skate by the angels on her whereabouts...if they found out through their human network about her, they might be in trouble.

Areal reeled back when she sensed Chuck's presence.

That man wasn't the true Prophet...he just pretended to be. Still, the last thing she wanted was for 'Chuck' to get mad at her for blowing his cover this early.

Dean and Sam spoke to Chuck, less than pleased he had been recording the mess they had gotten themselves in.

However he did at least seem understanding that they didn't want Arael's presence known to the other angels right now. At the moment they were still out of the loop that Dean was already a vessel, and they needed to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Arael was taking an extra long nap, only staying awake to insure Dean could sleep, though recently Sam asked if she could do the same for him, so she had to pull double duty keeping the brothers from their nightmares. She didn't mind.

Gently touching Sam's head, she broke the nightmare of Dean's death and the pain he had gone through for six months without his brother.

Gabriel had popped in while they were sleeping and added an extra infusion of his Grace. From what she could tell he had a thing for Sam, not that he would admit it openly.

"How are you doing?" asked Gabriel.

"Tired, but thanks to the healing I can at least fly a little again. And I've noticed a real difference in Dean's soul since you've managed to bring my natural Grace back to good levels," said Arael. She dropped the voice effect because to be honest she didn't need it.

"How so?"

"It seems the stronger I get, the more stable his soul becomes. And the more you use Sam as a battery, the better off his soul is too," said Arael.

Gabriel looked at his lieutenant.

"You're kidding right?"

"Bonding with an angel seems to be undoing the damage that idiot John Winchester caused to them," said Arael. It was clear she disliked their father John because of how badly he had screwed up his sons.

Bobby was more of a father to them than John ever had been.

Gabriel looked wide eyed at Arael.

"What do you mean, bonding?!" he said shocked.

Arael rolled her eyes and pointed at Sam.

"Take a good long look at his soul first then ask me that, you idjit," she said flatly.

Gabriel looked closer at Sam's soul and winced.

"Dad is going to be so pissed..."

"Not really."

Gabriel looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I ran into him while the two went to see Chuck and explain that he shouldn't write about my presence in Dean just yet. Father seemed surprised that I was in Dean, but he appreciated the fact I kept my mouth shut about who he really was to the two. It's the reason why my healing was accelerated since we last saw each other."

God had seen Arael's soul, and since she hadn't fallen entirely he was able to partially reconnect her to the Host. But she wouldn't be fully connected until Dean died properly and ascended to heaven. They were too deeply intertwined for their souls to fully heal without the other.

"So what happened to Adam?"

"No idea. I was asleep the entire time for a change. My Grace seems to heal more when I actually sleep and give Dean full control instead of partial," said Arael shrugging.

"So have you heard from Castiel?"

"He seems to have found an odd sort of balance between him and his vessel. Last I heard he was letting Jimmy return to his family in between cases."

Because Jimmy Novak had agreed to be Castiel's vessel, Castiel could take over whenever needed. Now though, he was starting to understand the concept of _patience_ when it came to borrowing his body.

Something Jimmy was very grateful Arael showed Castiel it was possible to share a body instead of taking full control.

"So what did Dad say about us bonding with humans?"

"He said that since heaven has screwed over the Winchesters this badly, they deserved a little happiness, even if it meant bending the rules a little. Besides...he said it was about time you came home," said Arael giving him a look.

Gabriel had the decency to look sheepish.

"He's not mad I left is he?"

"He understood why, but he's not happy with hardly any of the garrisons right now. And he's given me the all-clear to kill Zachariah if he goes too far with the Winchesters trying to force the Apocalypse."

Gabriel winced. If she had been given the all clear, that meant Zachariah was pushing his luck and was close to falling. How the hell had he pissed off their father that much?!

Arael was in a foul mood. Someone, and she suspected an angel behind this, had been dosing Sam while he slept with demon's blood.

So now he was dealing with a massive withdrawal issue, and thanks to this he would need some serious help getting rid of the addiction.

However, Arael wasn't going to make it easy for the angels to break Sam out so he could kill Lilith. If they wanted the Apocalypse, they would damn well have to work for it first.

Under any other circumstance, Dean would stay outside the panic room while Sam rode out his addiction. However Arael was almost certain that the angels would break Sam out just to kill Lilith and free Lucifer.

And if they wanted to give them hell for that phenomenally bad idea, then Dean had to be inside the room with Sam to throw some rather painful modified Molotov cocktails made of holy oil and soul fire. If that didn't make them back off, the line of holy fire in front of the panic room door would at least make them pause.

Seeing Uriel there, Dean felt a quick spike of fear go down his spine. He was not letting these feather bastards hurt his brother more than they already had by dosing him.

However Arael was more angry than afraid. Uriel might outrank her, but he had grown lax over the centuries. Heaven hadn't interfered in human matters since World War II when some idiot uncovered the Spear of Destiny.

However Arael had to fight minor demons in the pit for centuries in between her torture, and she absorbed all the fights that the Riders went through. She had been fighting for longer than Uriel and she wasn't backing down.

Uriel sneered at Dean, right up until Dean threw just enough soul fire to ignite the oil in front of the door.

The entire panic room was laced with enough sigils to keep anything short of god himself out, courtesy of Gabriel stopping by one night and putting them up.

The only way in or out was through the door Uriel was standing in front of.

"He will release Lucifer," sneered Uriel.

"Over my dead body asshole. And I know you aren't allowed to kill me because then Micheal would be down his vessel," growled Dean.

Uriel's snarl spoke volumes.

Without warning, there was a sudden shout from Sam as something fought off the demon's blood forced into him. Dean had to close his eyes as something bright shined from his brother.

When he opened his eyes again, Sam was gone, the chains undone from the bed.

Closer inspection revealed a chocolate bar.

Arael snorted.

"_Gabriel has taken Sam. I can only assume he sent an SOS to the idjit."_

_'Well considering Gabriel is one of the few angels I do actually trust, I can live with that.'_

"_Who are the others?" _

_'Astarael, Castiel and Annabelle.'_

"_Aw... How sweet of you!"_ said Arael blushing.

Sam woke up with a groan. He felt like hell, which wasn't surprising considering what he had been going through before that light beamed him out.

The last thing he remembered was the sheer pain as the Grace Gabriel left in him to help Arael fought the demon's blood and wishing that he where anywhere but where the angels could find him.

Then that light show happened and he passed out on someone's lap.

"Bout time you woke up Samsquatch!" beamed Gabriel.

"What happened?"

"You flew. Literally. Apparently acting as a place to put my Grace gave you the ability to use a limited amount of angel powers. You apparently needed an escape, so you 'apparated' straight to where you knew you would be safe. Either that or the Grace took you to where it recognized as safety."

"Where's Dean?"

"Probably still wherever you left. What the hell happened anyway?"

"Arael thinks the angels were dosing me in my sleep with demon's blood. I was going through the withdrawal when the Grace reacted to something and I was in a great deal of pain. All I wanted was to get away from the angels who wanted me to set Lucifer out of his cage and then this light show appeared."

Gabriel's grin dropped a fraction.

"What do you mean the angels wanted you to set Lucifer out?"

"I mean Uriel showed up and the only thing stopping him was the wall of holy fire and the sigils you left behind from getting into the room. I wasn't in my right mind when I was being chained to a bed," said Sam, sitting up.

Gabriel put his hand on Sam's head. Sam didn't argue.

"Well whatever happened, that crap's cleared out of your system again. Perhaps from now on you should stick around me since they don't seem to get the hint?" said Gabriel hopefully.

He would fully admit to an interest in Sam. Arael had noticed it, but she was fully aware her commander liked both genders. The real issue was _keeping_ his interest longer than a month.

Sam's eyelids began to drop. Getting to Gabriel and dealing with demon's blood had taken a lot of energy out of him. So much so that when Gabriel laid Sam's head down in his lap, the taller of the two didn't even make a word of protest.

Gabriel was well aware of Sam's nightmares (he talked to Arael for hours went he visited her) so he kept a hand on the man's forehead and let his presence soothe him so that he would get a full night's rest for once.

The angels were in an uproar. They wanted Sam, and they wanted him now. Either that or Dean would be the one to kill Lilith, but since he was staying firmly between a wall of holy fire and the angels, that was a bust too.

Then the angels decided that if the Winchesters weren't going to cooperate, then they would need outside assistance.

They brought in Johnny Blaze, the current Rider and the only person in the past hundred years who could bring out the soul fire instead of hellfire. And in return he had a spot in heaven, despite selling his soul to try and save his father.

Dean raced to the church where Lilith was waiting. Arael warned him that the angels had lied to Blaze to insure the last seal failed. He had already warned Constantine about the stunt they intended to pull, and he had gone to ground thanks to Midnite's help.

He didn't want to see his friends blamed for letting out Satan.

Unfortunately Dean only got there in time to see the Rider (with blue flames instead of the usual ones) cut into Lilith and tear her body in half.

"Dammit... we're too late," said Dean out loud.

Blaze turned to the voice and was surprised to see the guy he had tried to talk out of the deal behind him. And not running from the Rider.

Without warning the doors slammed shut, and Dean swore.

"Dammit! Fucking angels and their damn lies!"

Blaze slowly dropped his Rider form, looking confused at Dean.

"What..."

"The angels lied to you, same as Mephistopheles. Bastards just tricked you into letting Lucifer out, because we refused to do it," said Dean angrily.

Seeing the seal, Dean cursed even more. There was no way Arael had the energy to supply him or Blaze enough to deal with Lucifer.

When the light grew too strong for him to handle, Dean was surprised to find both of them on a plane flying over the church they were just in.

Things just got complicated.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Interesting note: Went looking to find out what Gabriel was the patron of in Catholic dogma out of boredom and stumbled upon a list of angel names. Among them was Arael which in Hebrew is the name of an angel who's name means 'Light of God or Vision of God'. Who knew there actually is an angel named Arael? (Source: Wikipedia)**_

* * *

Dean dragged Blaze to Bobby's house and explained to the man what was really going on.

"Wait a minute. Angels are trying to _start_ the apocalypse?"

"What, did you think that light show was just that? The angels needed a 'righteous' man to kill Lilith and break the final seal. I kept them far from me and Sam is likely with Loki," said Dean.

"So how did you get out?" asked Blaze.

"Angels needed to break the first seal. So they insured my brother was killed by allowing a demon as powerful as Azazel out and about to cause problems. Once I broke it they sent a ton of their feathered minions down to drag my ass out. Funny thing really...I saved an angel down there," said Dean.

Blaze blinked, before he reached out with his Rider sense.

"You're like me?" he said in surprise.

"Not exactly. The Rider isn't a demon, it's an angel. Specifically their Grace. One of Mephistopheles' worst tortures was to rip an angel's grace out and stuff it into an unwilling vessel."

Blaze looked confused, so Dean explained.

"An angel has a source of power called Grace. Now an angel, in order to interact with mortals, has to get a willing human which is called a vessel. However if an angel's grace is forced onto an unwilling vessel, it gets shredded and they run the risk of falling. The angel that fueled your powers before was tortured for centuries being forced to be the power behind the Riders."

"How could you know this?"

"_Because, Johnny Blaze, I was finally able to regain my sanity thanks to the fact you willingly gave up the power long enough for Dean to notice me,"_ said Arael.

Blaze looked surprised.

"Who are you?"

"_My name is Astarael, and I am an angel. I am also the one who powered your abilities before you gave them up. Thanks to you I was able to get Dean's attention and he let me out of the pit when the others came to get him."_

Blaze believed her. She had the same feeling that the Rider had before he gave up the power...shortly before he had to retake it just to save a kid's life.

"_However I believe you might be worthy of this power. Dean's still debating whether he should become a Rider as well."_

"Why is he debating?" asked Blaze.

"Because I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth risking my baby into turning it even more badass than it already is," said Dean, switching back.

There was the sound of wings and Dean looked outside.

"Sam!"

Sam took one look at Blaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Who's this?"

"Johnny Blaze," he said, holding out a hand.

"Sam Winchester. How did you get roped into this mess?"

"Angels tricked him into killing Lilith since they couldn't get me or Constantine. So where's your ride?" asked Dean, looking for the angel that dropped him off.

"Yeah...about that..." said Sam, not meeting Dean's eyes.

Suddenly Arael laughed. She had a good idea what happened.

"_You absorbed too much of my commander's Grace, didn't you?"_

Sam coughed, not answering that. Arael started cracking up. Suddenly Dean did too when Arael explained what happened.

"You became half-angel?" he said guffawing.

"Explanations please?"

"Arael was badly hurt from the pit, so her garrison commander gave some of his Grace and left it in Sam so she could siphon it off as needed. Thing is, it didn't all get absorbed by her... Sam apparently started absorbing some in him as well..." grinning Dean.

"_Which means he's almost fully bonded to my commander now, not that Father minds. The two could use someone to balance each other out."_

Dean was still grinning. As much of an ass as Gabriel was at times, he was also very loyal as shown by the way he treated Arael despite her condition.

Not many angels would willingly help her after what happened, and fewer still would use a human as a battery to make sure she got better. Besides, Sam needed to lighten up anyway.

* * *

Dean got a hot tip from Chuck about the 'Sword of Micheal' being in one of his father's old storage containers.

Thing was, Dean had already been there three months back and had cleared out some of the more dangerous stuff to sell to Midnite for some easy cash. Arael hadn't seen any knives, and Dean didn't even know what an angel's sword looked like.

So he knew something was up.

Still, the demons had gotten wind of the Micheal Sword being there, and he didn't want them getting their claws on anything that might come back to bite him in the ass later, so off the Winchesters (plus one seriously pissed off Blaze who had been told by Gabriel that being around the muttonheads might get his ticket cleared to enter heaven) went.

What they found was a slaughter, and one very irritating seraph.

Arael was many things, but a coward was not one of them. And she drew the line when Zachariah tried to force Dean to say yes to Micheal by giving him stomach cancer.

"_Dean, I don't know about you but I'm tired of running."_

_'What do you have in mind?'_

"_I say we teach this arrogant bastard a lesson...and show them that you won't be forced into becoming Micheal's meat suit just because they want you to," _said Arael, her anger clear as day.

Dean might have held out...had Zachariah not just removed Sam's lungs. He might hold back from being a Rider out of pride, but he drew the line when it meant his brother was in danger.

_'Deal!'_

Zachariah was at first confused then shocked when Dean stood up and there wasn't any pain in his eyes. Instead his attention was quickly drawn to the fireball Dean was tossing in his direction.

It hit a minor angel and the man screamed in pain as the soul fire ripped apart the connection between his true form and his vessel. He saw the angel flee back to the Host before the fire killed him, though he would have scars from that blast for the rest of his life.

"You can threaten me all you want you arrogant prick, but nobody hurts my family like that and gets away with it," snarled Dean.

Dean put his bony hand on Sam's shoulder, and suddenly he could breath again as Arael focused the grace still left in him to react to the danger.

Blue flames engulfed Dean, and Sam could see his brother's skull. He had to admit, his brother did look like a total badass.

"_Tell Micheal he can take his demands and shove them up his ass along with his sword. I have a better angel on my side, and she isn't nearly as big a prick as you,"_ said Dean. His voice had developed the echo-quality that Arael liked to use out of boredom.

"This can't be!" said Zachariah, as he realized what was going on.

Dean was the Micheal Sword, but Micheal couldn't take his body if there was already an angel _in_ the Winchester!

The question was which one.

"_And by the way... Astarael says fuck off...not that you'll have any other choice since God said she was free to kill you if you tried anything again," _said Dean, answering that question.

The gun he had in his pants suddenly turned much more dangerous as it absorbed the soul fire and the distinct sound of it cocking filled the warehouse. Zachariah stared death in the face as Dean grabbed his neck from the collar and forced him into a soul stare.

Astarael felt death by soul fire was too good for this prick...he had to feel every death and all the pain that he had caused forcing Lucifer out of the cage by lying to Blaze.

The now former angel screamed as his Grace was literally ripped from him...and because God had given her a minor upgrade, it went straight into Astarael.

She could only do this with angels that were nearly fallen, or had crossed the line...though she couldn't use it on Lucifer unfortunately.

However it also meant that her healing would accelerate depending on how much Grace she could absorb.

Dean would be very surprised later to see her true face after this...she looked more like an anorexic woman than a half-dead one.

* * *

Sam and Dean were shooting to incapacitate rather than kill... Arael had noticed that they weren't dealing with real demons, just someone making it look like they were.

Ellen, who was among those who had been told about Arael, hit Sam with the holy water instead. Nothing happened.

Dean snickered.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Sam's turning into a partial angel because he's been acting as a walking battery for Grace for the past year," explained Dean.

Sam looked uncomfortable with the look Ellen shot him.

"How was I supposed to know that would happened if I agreed to act as a container rather than a vessel?"

"So what can he do?"

"He can fly. Sort of," said Dean grinning.

"And what about you?"

"Dean finally agreed to the Rider's powers, so he has all the basic abilities with none of the control issues. He's also found that his car is as sentient as a five-year-old," said Sam dryly.

Ellen's eyebrow raised briefly at that. Then again there were countless legends in Japan where an item took on sentience if given enough attention. And with how much Dean loved that car of his, it was of little surprise that it would at least gain a conscience.

"And?"

"It's like a damn puppy. The more often I turn it into the Rider's vehicle, the more alive it becomes. On the plus side it does like Sam and Bobby but it's still iffy around Cas."

Ellen heard a rumbling across the silent town. It sounded like a car...whining?

"Dammit... I told her it wouldn't take that long. Whatever's doing this has to reek of the pit, and we know Arael will pick up on it," muttered Dean.

Arael immediately reared back as she sensed the presence of someone she would very much like to avoid.

"_War's presence is all over in this room,"_ she hissed.

Ellen blinked. This was the first time Arael had shown up around her.

"War?"

"_One of the four horsemen. I should have guessed from that tacky red car outside... making people believe their neighbors are demons sounds like one of his stunts."_

"So you're Arael? Bobby's spoken about you. He said you saved Dean in the pit."

"_More like we're saving each other. Dean needs someone to keep him and Sam together through all the crap they've been through. And Dean was the only soul in the pit who thought I was worth saving despite all the pain he had to be in."_

"And Sam?"

"_It was through me that they found Gabriel. Those two are a surprisingly good match together,"_ said Arael impishly.

Arael took a quick glance around the room before her eyes landed on a man with glasses and a bulky looking ring. Blue eyes narrowed on him specifically.

"What's wrong _Dean_," asked Sam, emphasizing his brother's name.

"I smell sulfur," said Arael, dropping the effect.

Everyone tensed. 'Dean' walked past a lot of the survivors until he came to the man with the ring.

Suddenly his eyes glowed blue and War knew he had been busted.

"How quaint. And I here I heard from the others you were smart enough to refuse Micheal's demand. Even killed an angel doing it," said War.

"Zachariah was a fallen Seraph, it was only a matter of time. Now hand over the ring War, or I will cut off your hand to get it."

"Now why should I do that, Astarael? Yes, I recognize your scent from the pit. I'm amazed you convinced the Winchester to let you jump in him."

"You really want to be in the service of a angel who's throwing the world's biggest hissy fit because he's mad Daddy loves the new kid more than him? Hand over the ring and you can go back to play in the Middle East somewhere," said Arael.

War actually laughed at the description. That did sound a lot like the way Lucifer was acting.

"You're alright, for a seraph. Here," said War grinning. The minute the ring dropped into his hand, War vanished.

Ellen stared.

"You neglected to mention that Arael was a seraph," she said accusingly.

"With how badly she was when Dean first found her, it was hard for anyone to believe she was one."

"What just happened?" asked the pregnant girl.

"We just solved the problem. Be glad most of the horsemen really don't like Lucifer, or that would have been a lot harder," said Dean.

Ellen noted that his eyes were back to green now.

"Fricken angels," muttered Dean.

* * *

Dean and Sam had split up for the week, mostly because Gabriel was getting rather irritating about Sam's angelic abilities not being trained.

So Sam went to visit the sugar-happy arch angel while Arael and Dean traveled alone for a while.

What went unspoken by the other hunters was that everyone had noted some serious tension between them. Gabriel remarked that it was a pity Arael didn't have a body, otherwise she would jumped Dean months ago.

Right now though, Dean was pissed off because Micheal apparently wanted to send a very firm message about not being his vessel.

Which lead to Dean and Astarael being in a future where Arael was still in the pit. She was less than amused.


	10. Chapter 10

Dean and Arael were cuffed to a piece of pipe above them, their weapons removed by Dean's alternate self.

Needless to say they were irritated.

"So why should I release you?" asked Dean.

"Because you either let me go or I'll melt these damn things off, and frankly I don't want to deal with molten metal on my clothes. Blood's a big enough bitch to get out," said Arael. Until they got home, she was in control.

"What?"

Arael rolled her eyes before she melted the hand cuffs around their wrist.

Dean jumped back, his gun in hand.

"Idjit. I'm an angel, not a damn demon...not that there's much difference between the dicks with wings and the ones who live below," snorted Arael, shaking off as much metal as she could.

"Who or what are you?"

"We're the Rider. The Ghost Rider. Only instead of making a demon deal Dean went and agreed to become the vessel for the angel that powers him."

"The Rider's an angel vessel?" said Dean. This explained a hell of a lot.

"Most Riders are containers. People who are forced to shoulder an angel's grace thanks to Mephistopheles. But Dean's different. We've learned to share the body instead of possession. He only recently took on the mantle of the Rider though," said Arael.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Astarael, second-in-command of Gabriel's garrison and the one who was betrayed by the Host of Heaven. And if you want our help dealing with this bullshit the angels started, then you're going to have to trust us," said Arael flatly. Blinking, Dean took over.

"I am so glad she quit it with the stupid voice effects."

"How is this possible?"

"When Johnny Blaze gave up the Rider's power, he allowed me to be able to see her in the pit next to mine. Micheal sent her on a suicide run and didn't have the balls to rescue her when she screamed for help for over a week. When the angels stormed the pit, I offered to let her to join me out of there. When I came to she was in my body with me. She's kept the nightmares away from me and Sam ever since. Not all vessels have to deal with an angel stealing their body," said Dean.

* * *

Arael and Dean walked out of the hut rather irritated. Their alternate was an asshole the likes they hadn't seen since John Winchester was alive.

Still, there was an interesting surprise in the camp they weren't expecting.

Johnny Blaze was still alive.

"Blaze?" said Dean.

"What's up Dean?" he asked.

"You still fighting for control with the Rider?" asked Dean, an idea forming in his head. If he played this right, Astarael's alternate would be free from the pit twice.

Blaze's eyes glinted.

"Why do you need to know?"

"I can arrange it so you never have control issues again. All you have to do is say yes when we need you to."

"We?"

"The angel, the one that fuels the Riders... She's still down in the pit because Micheal didn't have the balls to come help when she screamed for him. I plan to get her out and give you a semblance of control. No more worrying about the Rider killing the people you're working with."

Blaze blinked. This wasn't his Dean. His Dean wouldn't give two shits about an angel in the pit with the world gone to hell.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Because unlike your Dean, I'm already a vessel instead of a container like you," said Dean. And to Blaze's eternal shock, Dean proceeded to bring out a ball of blue fire in his hand...which turned skeletal. Exactly like he did in the presence of evil.

"You're a Rider too?"

"I'm the vessel for the angel that fuels the Riders. And if you want to be free of Mephistopheles, then all you have to do is agree to the same terms I did when I partnered up with Astarael. Of course we'll have to go get her first."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I'm going to drag Gabriel's ass here and make him come with me. But you might need to cover for me while I go find his cowardly ass," said Dean.

* * *

Arael located Gabriel easily enough. It was dodging his sword that proved to be an issue.

"Dammit Gabriel, knock that crap off! We didn't come here to fight!" shouted Dean.

Gabriel looked at Dean shrewdly. This looked like the Winchester, but last time he checked Dean wasn't a vessel.

"How did you find me?" he growled. He wasn't putting his blade away yet.

Arael took over and did the one thing Gabriel wasn't expecting.

She grabbed his ear and twisted it rather painfully.

"_Now is that any way to speak to your second-in-command, you sugar crazed jerk? Father you are such a _child_ sometimes Commander,"_ said Arael rolling her eyes.

Gabriel winced at the action, but his eyes were wide.

"Astarael?"

"_An alternate of her at any rate. From what we've been able to tell, Uriel dropped us off in the wrong damn alternate future, likely on Micheal's orders. Coincidentally, if I see that asshole again I am going to kick him in the balls."_

"How is this possible? Last I heard you were dead!"

"Micheal(she spat the name out like a curse)_ thought it would be a smart idea to replace you after you left. I was stupid enough to volunteer, and on my first assignment the bastard sent me to Earth right into the hands of Mephistopheles. The Astarael you're familiar with is still in the pit, which is why we came to find you. We would need an arch angel to rescue her so that she can either recover or at the very least be put out of her misery."_

Gabriel popped in a sucker.

He cared about Astarael, she had a wit to match his own and she had always been good at keeping him from having to deal with the more irritating crap.

"So why did you need me?"

"_We needed an extra hand in getting her out, and since none of the other assholes are going to help us we figured you might at least give us a hand, or at least let us borrow your sword. Should have seen Zachariah's face when I use the Penitence stare to kill his sorry ass."_

Gabriel thought it over. On one hand, if Astarael was still in the pit then as her commander he was duty bound to retrieve her, cover be damned. On the other, if she was too far gone that meant he would have to end her and that was something he wasn't looking forward to.

"We have lined up a possible vessel for your Astarael. Johnny Blaze."

"The Rider?"

"The Ghost Riders are fueled by her Grace. Who better to act as a vessel than the one who's acting as the container for her power?" said Dean.

Gabriel looked appalled. He knew the Riders were fueled by an angel, but he had never known it was her.

"So will you help us get her free?"

"If she's still down there, yes. But if she's too far gone I don't know if I can help kill her," said Gabriel honestly.

"Leave that to us. We can at least end her humanely."

* * *

Arael and Dean worked as a team while Gabriel kept the majority of the demons off their ass. It had taken very little time to find Astarael, and they were relieved to learn she wasn't entirely too far gone.

She would be weaker than before, but once she was in a willing vessel and her wings returned, she would heal. And perhaps, so would Johnny.

Arael stuffed what was left of Astarael into a Grace Vial...her true form was so shredded that it fit snugly inside.

Gabriel followed the two out of the pit and to the camp, where 'alternate' Dean was waiting...and he was pissed.

"YOU!"

"Missed you too jackass," said Gabriel flipping him off.

"Why the hell did you bring Loki?!" yelled Dean.

Arael looked at Gabriel, who was ignoring the hunter completely.

"_Commander, you can do one prank and that's it. Make it count...oh, but don't kill him until I've had a chance to chew his head off," _said Arael rolling her eyes.

"Commander?" said Dean.

Gabriel grinned a little too evilly as he snapped his fingers. Dean suddenly became a Deana.

"What the... TURN ME BACK DAMMIT!"

Castiel, who had wondered what the shouting was about, came outside still rather doped up. The second he saw Gabriel, he sobered up in a hurry.

"Gabriel. I thought you were dead," he said in shock.

"Cassie? Jeez, you really let yourself go. Was being away from heaven _that _bad?"

"This is _Gabriel_?" said Deana in shock.

"Gabriel, the sugar-crazed angel who decided to go pagan," said Arael rolling her eyes again.

"Where did you go?" asked Deana.

"We went to find my alternate self. No way am I leaving my alternate in the pit until the end of days happens," said Arael flatly.

Blaze walked up. He could sense Astarael from halfway across the camp.

Arael handed him the vial.

"Remember, just say yes and you won't have to fight for control again."

"What do I do?"

"Break the vial you idjit!"

Astarael was released from the vial, and like he promised, Johnny Blaze let her into his body. He could hear sobs of relief from the angel as she was no longer being torn into pieces. She quickly agreed to share the body if it meant not being broken again.

"Where's Sam?"

"Haven't seen him since River Pass," bit out Deana.

"Seriously? What the hell happened?"

"We had a fight and I haven't seen him since."

"A fight? Just how the hell did you chase Sam off after all the crap we've been through?" said Dean incredulous.

Arael had helped him work out some trust issues. Plus the entire Apocalypse thing was the angel's fault, not Sam's.

Dean pinned his alternate self with a disbelieving gaze, and Gabriel was very surprised. He hadn't thought Astarael would make that big a difference in the Winchester's life that they could work out half the crap they had between them.

"Exactly where is Sam? I know myself well enough that you would have at least kept track of him just in case," said Dean firmly.

"He's not here anymore. He said yes to Lucifer," Deana bit out.

He/she was shocked when Dean slapped him on the back of the head.

"You fucking idiot! Ruby did nothing more than manipulate him because of dad's crappy teachings and our own bad luck! The least you should have done was made him get a separate car and a room instead of driving him away! Have you forgotten what Zachariah tried to do to force us to say yes to Micheal?! The angel who didn't have the balls to rescue one of his own when it was his fault that they were in trouble to begin with?!" yelled Dean.

Gabriel looked at Dean in surprise as the 'past' Dean chewed out his alternate self but good. With each word 'Deana' flinched as Dean called his alternate future out on the bad choice he had made abandoning his own brother when both heaven _and_ hell were dead set on tearing them apart.

No one said a word as Dean left his future self behind to see how bad the damage had been done to the Impala. In any time line, that car had always cooled his hot head off.

* * *

Dean looked at the burned out shell of his baby sadly. What the hell had his alternate been smoking to allow this to happen?

Gabriel looked at him oddly, but still offered a Snickers. Dean accepted it without hesitation.

"So what was your alternate like?"

"Can angels share memories?"

"If they're close enough, yes," said Gabriel cautiously.

"Then ask Arael to share hers. The last thing I want is to be anywhere near that asshole," said Dean.

Gabriel hmm to himself before he cautiously extended the same question. Arael shared her memories of Dean from the pit to the present, and to say the arch angel was surprised was an understatement.

"You two are acting like some sort of spiritual super-glue for each other... why didn't any of my dumbass brothers try this sooner?" wondered Gabriel aloud.

"Out of all the angels they only ones I trusted with Arael were you, Castiel and Annabelle. And the only one who bothered to help her was Castiel until we found you."

"Coincidentally could you help me clean out the nerd in a trench coat? Seeing him drugged up like that really bugs me, especially since Heaven was closed off by that asshat Micheal," said Gabriel.

Seeing the truth of how his lieutenant ended up in the pit had really pissed him off. If he saw his older brother he would punch him, no questions asked.

Dean leaned against the Impala's shell and felt a deep pang of sadness looking at his Baby.

Deana planned to use the Colt against Lucifer (Gabriel refused to undo the transformation stating 'Dean' had deserved it) and Dean had given up trying to get it through his alternate's head that it was a stupid plan.

So here he was in the place he felt best. With his baby, no matter how bad she looked at the moment.

"_You know you could try turning her into the Rider's mount. That might restore her,"_ offered Arael.

Dean looked at the shell. It was worth a shot.

Channeling soul fire into his hand, he placed it onto the hood of the car.

Blue flames sprang from the Impala's burnt out husk, and Dean watched in amazement as it reformed. Everything that had been destroyed went back into prime condition, and he could see the damage reversing before his eyes. The engine revved under his hand, like a purring kitten.

Dean's weird-shit meter nearly went to ten when the car actually rubbed against him like a cat wanting to be petted.

"What the hell did you just do?!" said Gabriel, having felt that from where he had been napping. He took one look at the Impala and his jaw dropped.

"You fixed it?" said Deana in disbelief.

The car revved angrily at Dean's gender-bent self.

"More like he brought it back to life, literally," said Gabriel, "Certain objects, when given enough love and attention can develop _ souls_ of their own, even personality. Objects like cars."

"What happens to it when I leave?"

"It'll probably die again. After the damage done to this car it would take a miracle to bring it back to life."

"Anyway I could take it with me? The soul I mean?" asked Dean.

The car revved up and Dean felt something attached to his soul. Somehow he got the feeling it was the car's spirit.

And when he found himself back in his own time after the run-in with Lucy (who didn't take kindly to Dean's description of his fall...or the Grace-filled punch to the face) the first thing Dean did was hug his car.

Then he went to find Sam.


	11. Chapter 11

"So you're telling me that not only did the angels screw up that time line...they also closed off heaven?" said Gabriel, snacking on something very sugary.

Sam looked tired, but all around much happier after visiting Gabriel. Dean didn't ask, as he had a good idea what the two were up to while he was in that alternate.

Dean nodded.

"Idiots... what the hell did they expect to happen with your trust issues back before Arael showed up?"

"And to make matters worse, the idiot who was my alternate abandoned Sam after River Pass. He said they had a fight, but what the hell could they have fought about that would lead to him not even bothering to keep an eye on his brother?" ranted Dean.

"Probably the demon's blood. Let's face it, thanks to your father you two aren't the most accepting of people if they have contact with demons," said Gabriel, slinging an arm around Sam.

Dean felt a pain of irritation. Sam had found his best partner, but the odds of him finding anyone that understanding were next to nill.

Then Gabriel did something unexpected. He snapped his fingers and created a fake body...and proceeded to stuffed Arael's mind in it. Sam and Dean were shocked to finally come face-to-face with the angel that had been with them for the past year.

She opened her eyes revealing a stunning shade of blue and said "Hello Dean."

"Arael?"

Sam didn't need to see the seraph glomp Dean, and was very, very glad Gabriel could cast a silencing ward without having to go into the room when the girl dragged Dean into the next room for several hours.

Sam almost winced when Gabriel offered to adjust it so Arael could manifest without him having to snap up a new body every time. They were so getting separate rooms from now on. At least Dean wouldn't pick up a new hussy every hunt.

Bobby looked up when he heard the Impala (it no longer needed gas to run since Dean merged the two souls of the car) and raised an eyebrow when he saw the red head with blue eyes in the back.

Blue eyes he had last seen Dean have when Arael took over.

"Who's the girl?"

"Hello Bobby. Nice to finally see you properly," said Arael.

Bobby's eyebrows shot up.

"Arael? How..."

"Gabriel adjusted it so she could come out in her own body as a joke."

"They haven't let me have a night's rest since," said Sam irritated.

"Like you and your sugar-daddy are any better?" said Dean. Arael choked back a laugh.

Sugar-daddy was one of the more interesting names she'd heard for Gabriel.

"So this is Arael. Does this mean you're vulnerable to Micheal now?" asked Bobby.

"Not really. My mind might be in this body, but the rest is inside Dean. He's more of a container than a vessel when I'm out, and containers can't be possessed so long as the angel they're acting as a battery for is within arm's reach."

"Wait, does that mean..." said Sam.

"If we got separate cars you wouldn't have to worry about Lucy? Yep," said Arael.

Gabriel's biggest pet peeve was Dean. If Sam were driving his own car and followed him, then they could have separate rooms and everything.

Besides, it was clear Gabriel had a thing for Sam, not that Dean cared. He always knew his brother was a girl.

The second they stepped foot in town, Arael manifested.

"There's a cambion here," she said without hesitation.

"A _what_?"

"Cambion. People often mistake them for the anti-Christ for some reason. Basically the child of a female demon born from a virgin woman. Though I'm not entirely sure this one has gone evil yet," she said hesitantly.

"How can you tell?"

"They can literally rewrite reality within a certain distance, and they're damn near impossible for an angel to track unless they make waves. They're like the Rider, only a hell of a lot more dangerous...an even mix of two worlds."

"Again, how do we know this thing isn't evil?"

"Because there's only one death so far that got onto our radar, instead of hundreds. There's a reason why people mistake the cambions for Damien," said Arael.

Dean grinned at her reference to the Omen series. Just because she had a body (sort of) now didn't mean her addiction to movies had abated. Far from it.

Gabriel had, as a way to amuse her and make up for leaving her behind, set up a laptop that could get a signal _anywhere_. And her subscription to popular movies services were paid automatically by the brothers.

Sam was just glad she hadn't found the Japanese porn sites yet. It was bad enough that she tended to tackle Dean whenever they got separate rooms and made enough noise to keep him up for an hour before he learned to invest in ear plugs.

Best investment he had ever made, next to the subscription to _Hulu _for Arael.

It took them a full day to figure out where the cambion might be, and by that time Arael had immediately changed her hair color from red to a bright sunny blond.

"Why'd you change it?" asked Sam.

She pointed at her screen in disgust. There was a picture of what she had just finished watching. Dean took one look and started laughing.

It was _The Little Mermaid_. Arael had been entirely unaware that there was a fictional character named Ariel who had red hair.

"So why blond?" asked Dean, entirely too amused by the whole thing.

She flipped it to what she had been watching before she switched to Disney.

"_Naruto_?" read Sam. He had heard about the series, but never watched it.

"I like it. Besides, how far from red can you get outside of going blond?"

Dean snickered. Arael had a few weird quirks, but he still loved her.

Arael took one look at the cambion kid, saw that his soul was still pure if a bit odd, and did the one thing she always wanted to do around human kids.

"HE'S SO CUTE!"

Dean lasted for exactly three seconds before he started cracking up at the startled expression on the poor kid's face. To his credit, Jesse's head was right in the middle of Arael's impressive bust and he was merely blushing.

Sam shook his head.

"So this is the kid you were warning us about?"

"He hasn't turned Damien-level yet, but if they find him that could change. No way am I letting that jerk Micheal send anyone to hurt this cutie!" she agreed.

Arael _loved_ kids. They were so innocent and pure. She hated it when they grew up and their society warped them into little monsters, or worse.

So long as the cambion wasn't harming anyone, she could live with an abomination against nature. It wasn't their fault that a demon possessed some poor bastard.

A few hours later Arael came face-to-face with a surprised Castiel who had discovered Jesse's presence.

"The cambion is off limits Castiel. Jesse can be trained and he could be useful later on if given a chance. I'm not letting the other angels screw up that poor kid when he's still an innocent."

"Cambions are not innocent. They are abominations," said Castiel, repeating the common consensus about the creatures.

"And if Gabriel says that he's off-limits and agrees to train him?"

Gabriel loved children too, besides, this was a good excuse for him to get active without being stuck dealing with Lucifer right off the bat.

Arael had a horrible feeling at the mere _thought_ of Gabriel confronting Lucifer directly. As if something terrible would happen and she would be left to pick up the pieces again.

The mere idea of that made her shudder. The last time she had to pick up the pieces of Gabriel's disappearance, she ended up in the Pit for several centuries.

Castiel blinked.

"If you can get Gabriel to train the child, then I will not come back for him. Otherwise I will have to take him out."

The arch angels had to remain uncontested. They were the closest thing to their Father the angels had left. If Gabriel took the boy under his wings to train him, then it would take a majority vote to overrule his decision, and most of the others liked him enough to side with him anyway.

At the very least he could train Jesse to use his powers as a fledgling Trickster so that the position of Loki would at least be filled. A cambion-turned-Trickster was far less dangerous than a cambion who was tired of being hunted simply for existing. Besides, as Gabriel had so handily demonstrated, the pagans didn't really register on Heaven's collective radar, and most of the powers Jesse had shown could be mistaken for a Trickster's power.

"_You want me to _what_?" _said Gabriel incredulous.

"There's a cambion that hasn't turned evil and if I don't do something Micheal will send Uriel to smite the entire damn town just to insure the poor kid is killed. You know how they feel about cambions. The kid's an innocent," said Arael.

"_Exactly _how_ innocent."_

"So innocent he could easily take over as Loki and no one would bat an eye. The kid turned common pranks like a joy buzzer lethal, though I blame the parents for trying to corrupt him away from the greatness that is pranks," said Arael.

She heard Gabriel mock-gasp over the phone in horror.

"_The blasphemy! To not know the fun of a simple prank like a joy-buzzer?"_

"I thought that would get your attention. Now imagine how much chaos he could cause if trained properly to cause chaos like you love to do?"

Gabriel thought about that. An apprentice didn't sound that bad actually. And the idea of flipping off Micheal on something as harmless as turning a cambion into a Trickster to replace him when he was forced to go home did sound amusing.

Almost as funny as the 'screw you' messages Arael kept sending when she sent demons to heaven just to piss off the other angels.

They were killed immediately on entry, but the mere fact they made it that far really pissed Micheal off. They were so uptight about demons.

"_Fine. But only if the kid's on board with it as well. I'm not dealing with an unhappy cambion dammit!"_

Arael had a sudden flash of inspiration. One that would annoy her boss and amuse Dean.

"Wizards are real?" said Jesse with wide eyes.

"Well not wizards exactly. There are witches, but most of them are like really annoying and super whiny. They pretend to be high and mighty but when it comes time to pay for using their magic they always complain like prima donnas. But pagan gods like Loki exist. And he said he might be interested in teaching you how to use that power of yours to play pranks on those who really deserve it. Like that kid Billy you told me about. The one who likes to make fun of you because your parents aren't always around?"

Jesse nodded. He didn't like Billy but he didn't want him dead. Just embarrassed.

"So what's Loki like?"

"Let me put it this way... if a god were a kid in a candy store, Loki would totally steal the entire store just to eat all the candy."

Jesse giggled.

"He's that big a sugar nut. And if you ever want to prank him back, slip something foul into his latest treat. Like switching the sugar for the salt or maybe baking soda. Or better yet slip something really nasty into his soda like Tabasco sauce."

"What about my mom and dad?"

"Leave that to me. I can arrange it so you can at least have supervised visits with your parents. As far as they know, you're going to a really special school for kids like you. Loki won't teach you maths and stuff, but he can teach you history in a way that won't make you fall asleep."

And it wasn't like Jesse couldn't just pop up a diploma to fool people once he was trained.

It took her all of an hour to convince his parents (and hopefully set up a date they could see their son with Gabriel keeping an invisible eye on them all) and another two before Gabriel got bored and popped into the diner they were pausing at to pick up Jesse when he felt they were taking too long to find him.

His expression turned scandalized when Jesse immediately set the tone of his apprenticeship by using his power to switch the sugar that Gabriel was so enthusiastically pouring into his tea for the low calorie sweetener instead.

Sam hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Dean didn't hold back his guffaws at the look on Gabriel's face when he realized that he had put _Sweet 'N' Low_ into his drink rather than ten packets of sugar.

Gabriel gave Jesse a look, and grinned.

"I think this is the beginning of a fun apprenticeship. I'll turn you into a junior Trickster yet!" he beamed.


	12. Chapter 12

Dean nearly had a heart attack when, in the middle of an apple pie an angel showed up without warning. One he didn't recognize.

The angel was male, but there was something about him that Dean immediately liked.

And that made him suspicious...right up until Arael abruptly manifested and said "Jake!"

The man relaxed.

"Commander. We feared the worst when you were captured," said Jake.

"Um, explanations?" asked Dean.

"Dean, this is Jake, one of my captains and fellow prankster. What are you doing here?"

"I came to warn you. Micheal's pushing for you to undergo the Trial the minute you re-enter heaven."

"What's the Trial?"

"Basically it's a way to tell if angels who have fallen are worthy of being allowed back into the Host. Anna likely would have had to go through that if Sealtiel hadn't immediately put her in Gabriel's garrison as 'punishment' for leaving without the proper paperwork."

"What about you?" asked Dean.

"I'll return when you and Sam die and stay dead. Our souls are only being held together because we bonded as vessel and angel. We're literally holding each other in one piece. As for Micheal, there's nothing he can do about me being allowed back. Just because I lost faith in the Host doesn't mean I've fallen," said Arael.

"By the way, who keeps sending those demons up? I've never heard Micheal swear that vehemently before," asked Jake grinning.

"That would be me," she said grinning. Jake laughed.

"Just wait until I tell the others! We'll be rooting for the Winchesters up above now that I've confirmed your with the older idjit... blame Castiel, he passed that one to us," said Jake seeing their surprise at the use of Bobby's way of saying idiot.

"How is the nerd doing?" asked Arael.

Jake's grin was predatory.

"We're this close to corrupting him."

"Bring down the garrison the second he starts quoting popular movies. We'll have a party at Bobby's," said Arael immediately.

"I'll bring the beer," said Dean. Jake laughed before he left, saying he would pass the message on to the others. They could use a reason to celebrate.

* * *

Dean slide into some no name hotel near an abandoned town. They had heard of Silent Hill, what hunter hadn't. The thing was that it had been declared pretty much off limits by the hunting community because anyone who got caught inside never came back. The hotel was at the very fringes of the border that Hunters tried to drive past as fast as they could.

He noticed some other poor bastard had driven nearby, and hoped they weren't unlucky enough to get caught in the net.

"Salt the room?" asked Sam.

"Salt and rune the room. We're at the edge of the border, and the last thing I want is to have to go Rider just to get out of that weird pocket dimension."

Sam nodded and pulled out a stone. It was his birthstone enchanted by Gabriel. Gabriel had been teaching Sam runes, specifically the ones angels used to ward places. Once he had done the area around the bed, windows and doors, the two fell into an uneasy sleep. Arael kept a strict watch over the two since she was getting pings off her inner garrison radar.

Anyone with Gabriel's unit quickly developed something of a warning system in their Grace in order to know when one of them was playing a prank. And hers was going off big time.

Fortunately she had a decent idea who it was setting it off. She had seen the information Dean had on the area, and there was only one angel in Gabriel's garrison who had that sort of humor.

Seeing the walls starting to peel off, she decided to deal with this herself.

"_Betzalel. Show yourself!"_ she said in Enochian. Dean rolled over in his sleep.

There was a pause, but in the corner of the room the shadows manifested into a young girl. Roughly seventeen, maybe eighteen at that.

"_Commander. I wasn't expecting you to show up."_

"_How have you been Zal?"_

"_Punishing a bunch of humans. These bastards harmed an innocent because she didn't know who her father was. You know how I feel about people targeting children."_

"_Gabriel would approve. So is this form to be your next vessel?"_

Arael could sense the power of her old friend in the room next to her. The girl was glowing with it. And the few times Betzalel took a vessel, she had put the human through a trial to see if they were worth the energy she had expended to punish the humans. Gabriel had taken her into his garrison mostly because she did have a sense of humor, but he didn't want Uriel's garrison to turn it too dark.

So he taught her pranks and let her go punish the humans who deserved it.

The last time Betzelal was out, she dealt with some idiots who thought that stoning children was acceptable because of some fool was growing hallucinogenic plants in the forest. That judge in Salem should have known better than to try and burn her.

Gabriel normally didn't let her out on Earth.

"_How is Gabriel?"_

"_Hiding out as Loki. I've only recently been able to use my Grace normally after the stunt Micheal pulled."_

"_Why do you think I left? Fool thought I would try to take Gabriel's place like you did, but I have more sense. They had Kirael do it instead."_

"_Kirael's been banished. She tried to bring Mammon into the mortal plains."_

"_Good riddance. Why are you here Astarael?"_

"_It's Arael now. Father let me change my name, since I'm not longer the angel I was. The shorter one is my partner."_

"_Partner? Not vessel?"_

"_Hell...it ripped me to shreds. I was barely able to keep from falling. Dean saved me, and in return he let me use his body to heal. By the way, Lucifer was let out."_

"_Shit. Thanks for the heads up."_

"_So do you mind if I wake them up so we can leave?"_

"_You can't. Not until this plays to the end. The girl, Sharon, will either accept me or I'll put her and her family out of their misery."_

Betzalel was a Rit Zian. One of the angels created to heal other angels or put them out of their misery. Thing was, her morbid sense of humor caused the other angels to avoid her if possible. Only Astarael had treated her like any other angel in her garrison. Even Gabriel was wary of her.

So Betzalel was very pissed about how Micheal had abandoned the only angel she called friend.

"_You've closed the rift you left for her to walk in, didn't you?" _sighed Arael.

She nodded.

"_Crap. Which means I'll have to make sure Dean and Gabriel's Mate survive."_

_"Gabriel took a mate?"_

"_The Sasquatch on the other bed. He agreed to act as a Container for Gabriel's Grace so I could heal, but ended up absorbed quite a bit himself. He's got enough to fly and apply runes, but that's it unless Gabriel pushes the conversion. Dean is mine," _explained Arael.

Betzalel took a good long look at Dean's soul, to see if he was worthy of her best friend. What she saw surprised her.

"_Angelic glue? Really?"_

"_Mephistopheles used me to power his Riders. Dean refused to force that transformation and preferred to act as Vessel until Zachariah forced his hand. That arrogant prick is dead by the way."_

"_I noticed. You absorbed his Grace didn't you?"_

Arael winced, wishing her friend hadn't seen that.

"_He was an asshole anyway, and I know I haven't fallen enough to become susceptible to that new power of yours because I've only gone after these zealots. Speaking of which, it seems my Vessel is about to wake up."_

"_If we're stuck in your pocket dimension, mind if I drag the boys through it to see the sights and explain what's going on?"_

"_Keep the girl alive so we can talk once this is over with. Hopefully I can finish off the last of these bastards before Lucifer picks up on my scent."_

The girl vanished just in time for Dean and Sam to wake up and see the level of ash coming down.

"What happened? And why were you speaking angel?" asked Dean. He had felt Betzalel's scan of his soul.

"An old friend was nearby and we got picked up by mistake while she's scouting her next vessel."

"Old friend?" yawned Sam.

"Betzalel, an angel who specializes in ending pain. However her sense of humor left the other angels afraid of her so Gabriel took her in."

"How bad?" asked Dean.

"She's behind the incident at Silent Hill. Apparently the place is full of zealots who harmed an innocent child, and she took offense."

"Betzalel, meaning Shadow or Path of God. Ironic considering Arael means Light of God," said Sam.

He had learned Hebrew after finding out Gabriel's name meant something in the language and had been amused to find out Arael actually meant something in the language.

"Unfortunately until the girl either accepts her or gets killed, we're stuck here. On the plus side, Zal was always an amazing medic. She only ever used her killing powers on people who really, really pissed her off."

"Sold."

Team Free Will (as Gabriel had so snarkily called it once) could use a good medic. Gabriel sure as hell didn't enjoy the job, he was better with illusions and misdirection.

* * *

Dean's first encounter with 'Zal' as Arael called her, was rather odd.

She was the darkest angel he had ever met, yet she was still firmly on the side of Arael. Hearing her basic job description explained that.

He could understand the fact that angels were naturally wary of one who could end them so easily and had a rather morbid sense of humor.

Zal was mostly observing Dean to see if he was worthy of being her best friend's other half.

Seeing the Pyramid dude show up to cut his girl in half, Dean manifested the soul fire gun and aimed it at him.

"Back off or I'll blast you back to the pit," he growled.

Betzalel hummed in her throat.

"Protective. I approve of him," she said. Arael beamed at her.

Slowly the darkness came, only this time Zal didn't lift it like normally.

Sharon was getting closer to the zealots.

"Excuse me, I have some cultists to end in a rather horrific fashion."

"Exactly how morbid is her humor?"

"Remember the girl that was removed from Silent Hill after being burned alive? That set off Zal enough that she filed for permission to come down. She gave the girl power to teach those bastards a lesson and what was left of her sanity was placed in a foster home. A few years later the second mother brought the girl back hoping to find out why she kept screaming about Silent Hill. The girl got out again, but these cultist apparently figured out she was the only allowed to leave or 'kill' Zal."

"Could they kill her? If she took a vessel I mean?"

"Not a chance. This is something she picked up from Gabriel years ago. If Sharon accepts Zal, she'll release the foster parents and send these souls to the pit where they belong. Even if they did try to kill her, Zal would take control and smite every last one of them instead of playing her games."

Micheal certainly hadn't been happy when he found out Gabriel had managed to teach his little tricks to Betzalel, especially when it was combined with the angel's morbid sense of humor. Some had even called her a demon in angel form, to Arael's annoyance.

No one dared say that to her face or around any of Gabriel's garrison...they didn't want to get their head chewed off.

An hour later the darkness slowly eased up and the ashes stopped falling. A girl with blond hair walked back to where they had been waiting for this to end.

"Finished. Though with one extra."

"Feeling merciful?" joked Arael.

"He was the only one who defied the cult's teachings long enough to actually try and protect her. The parents agreed to take him in until Lucifer is put back in the cage. Once that's over with, I'll get a new vessel and let this girl live with her parents."

Sharon had been more than happy to help once Betzalel explained what was really going on and had the promise of being allowed to live in peace with her parents away from it all so long as she simply acted as a vessel. Learning you were now immune to demon possession and had a free ride into heaven despite your origins had been worth allowing an angel to take full control.

* * *

Gabriel took one look at the teenager, and then at Dean quizzically. You could literally see his thought processes as he tried to figure out why a girl not even twenty was with them.

"Isn't she a bit young for you Dean?"

Arael felt a dark twinge of amusement (she blamed Zal) when her friend flared her Grace at their Commander and he reeled back in surprise, falling over the chair he had been in front of.

"Betzalel?! What the hell are you doing on earth?" he said once he got over his shock. Sam, bless him, didn't hold back the fact he was laughing at his boyfriend.

Really, how often do the Winchesters get one over on Gabriel anyway?

"Two words. Silent. Hill."

Gabriel thought that over for a minute and realized he had sensed her touch down a few decades back.

"Ah. I take it that the cult won't be bothering anyone ever again?"

Gabriel had been unhappy to read about the cult and the fact they had burned a child alive because she had been a bastard. So the fact that she had descended to teach them a lesson wasn't that surprising.

"I finally managed to get the rest of them. The only survivor was allowed out because the girl needs someone to talk to later. I was even nice enough to let her parents out," said Zal.


	13. Chapter 13

"What is samhill is going on here? And who's this?" demanded Bobby a few days later. He had been out on a hunt when they stopped by the house initially with Zal, as Arael insisted on calling her.

The girl's head turned to Bobby, sending all of his hunter's senses on high alert. She was one of the most dangerous things he had ever encountered...even more dangerous than any demon he had come across.

"_My name is Betzalel."_

Arael rolled her eyes.

"Zal here is one of the more dangerous classes of angels. Her job is to end pain...even if it means killing to do it. You know that whole Silent Hill place?"

"The one all hunters avoid like the plague if they know what's good for them?"

"She's the one who sent the town into a pocket dimension of darkness and vanished an entire group of people who nearly killed an innocent child all in the name of their faulty religion. Zal's really partial to children, so that royally pissed her off."

Zal gave Bobby a once over with her angel senses.

"_I like him. He has a purer soul than most of the people I've seen since you brought me with you," _said Betzalel.

"He practically raised these two when their father went partially insane after Azazel killed their mother. Bobby here is good people," said Arael.

"_Too bad the same can't be said of our brothers and sisters. Even Gabriel was horrified when he first realized I had come to Earth."_

"Well to be fair Zal, your humor is rather dark and terrifying. I mean really, that pyramid-headed thing?"

"_I let the girl's parents go and one of the Order's children! I'm not a demon damn it!"_

"I never said you were, little sister. I'm just saying that your humor leaves a lot to be desire unless someone has a rather morbid one."

Zal pouted. Why did Arael pick on her so much?

"She's behind the Silent Hill disaster?" said Bobby to Dean.

"_The cult believed that children who were born without knowing both parents were tainted and impure. A girl by the name of Alessa had no idea who her father was since her mother refused to name him, and was tortured her entire life until one of the Priestesses had the bright idea of burning her to cleanse her 'impurity'. She survived, but her body was so damaged no amount of my Grace could heal it completely, so we did something different."_

Bobby looked properly horrified anyone could kill a child over something like not knowing who their father was.

"_We took what was left of her innocence...everything that would have allowed her to pass St. Peter's Gates and sent it away where the Order wouldn't find it. When the child was old enough, it would return to Silent Hill and bond with me to end the Order permanently if I hadn't already tracked and destroyed it before then. Sharon managed to find her way back and discovered the truth, and when she accepted me I turned her into my vessel."_

"Zal here has a unique sense of humor that Gabriel recognized. She was our garrison's top medic. Thing is though that she takes the deaths of children very seriously. What happened in Silent Hill really set her off."

"Has it happened before?"

"Only a few times. Once in Salem when some idiot was growing hallucinogenic mushrooms and a few local girls mistakenly ate them, setting off the Witch Trials and again when the Nazis started killing children. Gabriel ran into her during that one," said Arael.

"_He tricked me into thinking he was Loki. None of the other gods there wanted to get near me, but he was fine with joining in on my darker pranks. I should have known he was Gabriel when he started helping rather than leaving,"_ said Zal sourly.

How in Heaven had she managed to miss that obvious sign of who he was? Looking back on it she felt like smacking herself for missing the signs of who he really was... Gabriel had been the one to slowly adjust her pranks after all.

Suddenly Dean's phone went off. He heard a woman asking for help, though the number was Chuck's.

He still wasn't happy about the prophet writing about them, but the man had kept his word about not mentioning Arael in Dean until after she decided to quit hiding.

Much to their mortification, Chuck had restarted the series. Arael found it hilarious to read the books, mostly because Chuck edited a few things out and had the entire set.

So naturally they were all confused why a girl who sounded disturbingly familiar was calling Dean.

* * *

"Oh...my...Father..." said Arael as she took a good long look at the row of Impalas (some only barely maintained) and the group of Dean and Sam Winchester doubles. She couldn't maintain her amusement anymore than Zal could, as they both doubled over laughing their asses off.

It was a fan convention!

"Laugh it up, feather brains," said Dean grumpily.

Seeing a man with name tags nearby, Arael quickly scrawled four names for them to use. Dean was not seeing the humor in what she had put down.

Dean- _Rider's Vessel_

Sam-_ Research Monkey_

Arael-_ Misplaced Angel_

Betzalel-_ Innocent Bystander_

"You suck, you know that?" said Dean.

"You know you love me," said Arael, giving him a kiss. She saw the woman who called and smirked.

Becky was one of those Wincest fans that amused her so much, because really, the idea of Dean and Sam doing that was so wrong that it was hilarious. Gabriel and the brothers didn't find it nearly as amusing, though thankfully they were unaware of the many sites now dedicated to the pairing.

Sites that she read whenever she needed a fast laugh.

"What are you doing here? And who're they?" hissed Chuck.

Arael sniggered, before she told him.

"Becky had the bright idea of calling us. She tried to make it sound like she was in trouble. The only reason we came is because she used your phone to do it."

Chuck gave her an odd look.

"Who are you?"

"Call me Arael. This is my younger sister Beth. Dean's my boyfriend," said Arael flatly. She knew Chuck's true nature, so she saw no need to lie. And staking her claim now would keep Becky off Dean later.

The newly named 'Beth' looked annoyed but was glad that Arael hadn't used her pet name for her instead. The only ones that called her Zal were Dean, Arael and Gabriel. At least now they had a human name for her to go by.

"Becky, why did you take the phone?"

"Because I thought they would be thrilled to see this!" said Becky chipperly.

"But the only one of us who _likes_ that stupid series is Arael!" said Dean.

Arael sniggered.

"Oh it gets better. Tell me, when are you planning to update that Wincest fic of yours?" she asked Becky.

Becky perked up.

"You're a fan?"

"Mostly because the idea of Wincest makes me laugh my ass off. I am Dean's girlfriend after all, and your work is surprisingly well written compared to the pure smut crap that can't even spell properly half the time," said Arael.

"What is Wincest?" asked Dean, looking rather ill as he tried to imagine the definition.

"Winchester Incest," supplied Zal.

Dean and Sam looked like they were going to be sick. Arael and Betzalel looked more like they were going to laugh again.

"Oh god, why?" asked Sam horrified.

"Um, have you read the books? I'm fairly sure that some of the 'Winchesters' here are actually gay couples," said Arael.

"From what I've heard about you two from the grapevine, you two were close in an unhealthy way. It's only natural people would assume incest, especially since Dean is a former man-whore," said Betzalel flatly.

"I need a drink. Where's the bar?" asked Dean.

"Down the hall and to the left," supplied Chuck.

"Don't forget to show up at the forum!" Becky called at them.

Arael had an evil idea, one born of years spent as Gabriel's second-in-command. She sidled up to Chuck and asked him to tweak his story of how he came up with the series.

Sam and Dean were going to be pissed, but that was just icing on the cake for when Gabriel, Bobby and the Harvelles found out about this. Betzalel, when told of her plan, was trying not to laugh evilly as she went to get her camcorder.

This was going to be hilarious.

* * *

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The horror show that just _wouldn't_ stop, all while the two angels were laughing at them both.

Sam and Dean had been dragged _on stage_ by a very overenthusiastic Becky when Chuck gave his altered origin of the _Supernatural_ series courtesy of an amused Arael. Originally he was going to claim that he had come up with the brothers out of divine inspiration, but instead Arael convinced him to say that he ran into the Winchesters one night while camping and they shared their stories on hunting with an amusing twist on the hunts they took part in with their father.

Which meant Chuck had to drag them up on the stage while Betzalel recorded the _entire thing._

Bobby was going to bust a gut laughing when he saw this. And Ellen was never going to let them live this down.

Hearing the questions like why they didn't put their guns on bungee cords, Arael had a good laugh at the pained expression on Dean's face.

_'I will get you back for this, you understand?'_ said Dean through their shared link.

"_You can try...and I will distract you like always,"_ replied Arael smugly.

Dean had a sudden inspiration, and hissed at Chuck to mention Arael's appearance in the next books. Betzalel looked more than a bit smug as the seraph was literally dragged up to the stage by her boyfriend.

Arael did slip into the back long enough to manifest a fake pair of wings, which were little more than a more tolerable form of her real ones.

Chuck had someone take a good picture of them so he could use it as the cover of the next book, when Dean and Arael came out of hell. Needless to say Arael was thrilled she was going to be on the books.

* * *

"That was pure hell," said Dean. He was downing scotch like no tomorrow, and Arael was having fun with her wings being out.

Betzalel had hers out too, mostly out of boredom. Unlike the ethereal blue of Arael, hers were a dark ashy gray. There were also only two, instead of the four on Arael's back.

Dean was so out of it that he almost didn't react to the screams. Arael stopped the two before they ran right into one of Becky's bright ideas.

"Relax, it's just LARPing," said Arael.

"What in the pit is a LARP?" asked Zal.

"Live Action Role Play. Kinda like those nerds who dress up in medieval outfits to pretend they're back in King Arthur's time," explained Arael.

Dean winced at the thought of people actually acting out their hunts with no idea what the hell they were doing.

"On the plus side, so long as you guys don't get too drunk I might be able to send you on a hunt while we're here," said Arael.

"What?"

"There are children's souls here. Four of them and one adult," spoke up Zal.

"How can... Right, you're practically a guardian angel of children," said Sam. Zal nodded.

Betzalel was so sensitive to children's souls that Gabriel taught her new ways to punish anyone who hurt them. She liked children...they were never as afraid of her as adults were.

* * *

Zal looked up, having sensed one of the children stirring. She slipped away to go look for it to see what happened. She hated it when children were stuck on the mortal plains after death.

It took her five minutes to find it, and what she saw appalled her.

"_Hello little one. Did your mother do this, or was it someone else?"_ she asked gently.

The child had been scalped before his death, and something had to be keeping him there.

"_Mommy tried to stop them, but they killed me...then she went mad and killed them. She keeps them from leaving, but I can't leave until they do,"_ said the spirit.

Betzalel had overheard the story of the place. A woman who ran an orphanage several years ago went insane and killed the children...but if her son had been killed first it would explain a lot.

"_Would you like me to set you and your mother free?"_

The innocent soul nodded. Right, time to go looking for the woman and hopefully the murderous children.

Dean and Sam were out in the graveyard with shovels and a really cheap tequila. It had taken them fifteen minutes to find the place without the map, and both were more than a little buzzed.

Since Betzalel had informed them that it was the three children she had murdered, not the mother or her son who needed to be dealt with, they were digging up their graves first. The two angels were on lookout duty.

A quick salt and burn later, and the brothers went back to the hotel to find a room to stay in while they slept off the liquor.

Only to find that the mother and son hadn't moved on.

Someone wasn't letting the mother through heaven's gates, and Betzalel wanted to know why.

* * *

The angel stared down St. Peter himself, with the ghosts behind her.

"_They cannot pass. The woman killed three children, and you know we don't let murderers like that in."_

"_Those weren't children you idiot, they were demon possessed. I saw the marking on their souls myself, and she only did it out of grief for what they had done to her son,"_ said Betzalel irritably.

St. Peter blinked, before he looked into the past and observed the souls in question. When he saw the incident, he immediately stepped away from the gates.

"_It appears you were right. There was supernatural involvement...one of them was a changeling brat and the woman killed it before it went on a rampage. They may pass."_

Betzalel nodded, before she went back down to earth.


End file.
